Want to lower your blood pressure? Try 5 more minutes of exercise

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Just five more minutes of exercise doesn’t sound so bad, right? Especially when such a small amount may improve your blood pressure, according to a new study.

“Incorporating even a few minutes of higher-intensity physical activities like brisk walking or cycling into daily routines can make a difference for (blood pressure) levels,” said lead study author Dr. Jo Blodgett, senior research fellow at the Institute of Sport, Exercise & Health at University College London.

Researchers analyzed data from nearly 15,000 people who wore activity monitors and had their blood pressure tracked, according to the study published Wednesday in the journal Circulation.

The day’s activities were broken down into six categories: sleep, sedentary behavior, slow walking, fast walking, standing, and more vigorous exercise, according to the study. Researchers used the data to estimate the impact of replacing sedentary time with the other activities.

As little as five more minutes a day of exercise was associated with lower blood pressure, and just 10 to 20 minutes more as linked to a clinically meaningful change in blood pressure (defined as a reduction of 2mmHg of systolic blood pressure or 1mmHg of diastolic blood pressure), Blodgett said.

Clinically meaningful changes in blood pressure can mean reduced risk for heart disease and stroke, said Dr. Susan Cheng, professor and vice chair of research in the department of cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She was not involved in the research.

“The study offers some very detailed information on the fact that even though most of us (are) relatively inactive for most of the day, even small changes can make a big difference,” she said in an email.

Too much sitting around

Decades of previous studies have shown that more physical activity is associated with more optimal blood pressure levels, Cheng said.

The latest study stands out in its observation of people’s everyday lives, rather than putting them through a prescribed exercise program, said study coauthor Dr. Mark Hamer, professor of sport and exercise medicine at the Institute of Sport, Exercise & Health at University College London.

“The difficulty with these types of studies is that although they work to reduce (blood pressure), when people finish the programme they usually revert back to their sedentary habits,” he added in an email.

And this study’s data showed that people are highly sedentary, Cheng said.

“The data show that the average middle-aged adult is sedentary for about 11 hours per day, spending on average 3 hours standing, 1-2 hours walking slowly, and about an hour walking fast — but importantly spending on average about 15-16 minutes doing any kind of exercise like activity,” she said via email.

“It’s important for us to recognize that this pretty consistent picture of relative inactivity is one that can be seen well across the population at large.”

More than just a walk in the park

The study is observational, meaning that it can show associations but can’t say for sure that the increased activity causes better blood pressure levels.

That said, the results are “compelling enough that I would refer to this study when talking to my own patients about ways they might increase their daily dose of exercise to make an impact on the health of their blood vessels and on their longterm cardiovascular health,” Cheng said in an email.

There was a slight difference in the data, showing that sedentary time might be worse for blood pressure in women than men, she added.

“This makes me think that while the overall takeaways from the study are important for all adults, they may be especially important for women,” Cheng added.

The answer for better blood pressure may be more than just a walk in the park, however.

When sedentary time was replaced with non-exercise behaviors –– like sleep, standing, or slow walking –– there was little to no benefit, Blodgett said.

“Replacing sedentary time with non-high intensity activities such as sleeping, standing or walking requires significant reallocation of time each day to have an impact on BP (if at all),” Blodgett said in an email. “Focusing on replacing sedentary time with small amounts of higher intensity activity or exercise each day may be a more achievable strategy.”

A good rule of thumb for exercise is to get breathless to the point where it is difficult to speak in full sentences, said Dr. Shaan Khurshid, cardiac electrophysiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He was not involved in the research.

Fortunately, the biggest impact was seen in those with the lowest amount of activity, meaning you can start off gradually, Blodgett added.

“If you are currently doing no or a very little amount of higher intensity activity, aim to increase this by 5 minutes a day and increase when you are able,” she said.

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