- Keeping blood pressure within a healthy range helps improve cardiovascular health and reduces the risk of death from certain causes, such as heart attack.
- A recent study found that increasing physical activity, such as running or cycling, for just five minutes a day can help lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
- The results further support that longer increases in exercise-like activity can lead to clinically meaningful blood pressure reductions.
High blood pressure remains a common problem in the United States almost half the adult population. It contributes to death and… increases the risk of serious problems such as heart disease and stroke. Experts are interested in finding the most research-backed methods to help lower high blood pressure.
A study published in Circulation looked at the effects of different activities on blood pressure.
The researchers found that increasing exercise-like activities such as running, cycling and stair climbing were associated with reductions in blood pressure. For example, the findings suggest that replacing 21 minutes of sitting with physical activity could lower systolic blood pressure by about 2 mmHg.
The results highlight how much exercise can affect blood pressure and that daily changes can have a major impact on cardiovascular health.
Researchers on the current study wanted to examine activity patterns over a 24-hour period and see how they affected blood pressure, both systolic and diastolic values. Researchers divided the activity into six different categories:
- To sleep
- Sedentary behavior
- Standing
- Walk slowly
- Walk quickly
- Exercise-like activities such as cycling and running
The cross-sectional study involved data from 14,761 participants from six observational cohort studies. These studies involved participants wearing exercise trackers to look at activity levels. People were eligible for analysis if they met certain criteria, such as wearing the motion tracker for 20 hours or more every day and having data from at least one weekday and one weekend day.
The participants spent an average of 16 minutes per day on exercise-like activities and an average of more than 10 hours per day on sedentary behavior. Nearly a quarter of the participants were taking medication for high blood pressure and the average blood pressure value was around 132/79 mmHg.
All cohorts took into account some covariates, such as alcohol consumption, smoking status and age. Some cohorts collected data on additional covariates, such as mobility and education level.
Researchers could perform various analyzes to examine the available data. They found that more exercise-like activities and sleep were associated with lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure. In contrast, higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure were associated with higher levels of sedentary behavior.
When they looked at the redistribution of activity, researchers found that replacing other activities with exercise-like activities provided the most benefit for blood pressure. For example, researchers found that replacing five minutes of other behaviors with physical activity was associated with a reduction in systolic blood pressure of approximately 0.68 points and with a reduction in diastolic blood pressure of approximately 0.54 points.
The results also suggest that greater exercise-like activity could produce a more significant reduction.
For example, researchers estimate that a decrease in systolic blood pressure of about two points was associated with replacing 21 minutes of sedentary activity with physical activity, while keeping other activities the same. Researchers also estimated that a one-point drop in diastolic blood pressure was associated with replacing 11 minutes of sedentary time with eleven minutes of physical activity.
The findings suggested that replacing sedentary activities with other activities such as walking could also help diastolic blood pressure, but the time reallocation needed to be greater. For example, replacing 95 minutes of sedentary behavior with 95 minutes of slow walking can reduce diastolic blood pressure by one point.
In sensitivity analyses, researchers found some data showing that greater amounts of fast walking could actually worsen diastolic blood pressure.
After reviewing the press release, non-study author Cheng-Han ChenMD, a board-certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, CA, noted the following about the study results Medical news today:
“This study reinforces our advice to everyone to incorporate regular exercise into their daily activities. It’s encouraging to see measurable changes in blood pressure after just a few minutes of exercise, something that can be incorporated even into a busy schedule. We know that physical activity causes our organs and tissues to undergo changes that improve their performance and efficiency, which can then lead to better blood pressure control. By increasing the intensity of exercise, you accelerate the physiological changes that deliver heart health benefits.”
The study has some limitations, most notably a lack of diversity, despite having many participants. Second, the nature of the study did not allow for long-term data collection, which could be useful to look at in additional research.
The research cannot establish causal relationships. Researchers recognized the possibility of misclassification, overlapping, or undetected data related to behavioral measurement. They also acknowledged that they did not measure activity intensity directly, and that they were not able to examine sleep quality or how bouts of exercise affected the associations. Instead, they could only look at the average time participants spent exercising each day.
Some cohort data relied on participant reporting, and some components, such as how blood pressure data was collected, varied between cohorts.
Furthermore, in a subgroup analysis looking at the isometric log ratio, no “interaction between sedentary behavior or exercise levels with SBP (systolic blood pressure) was observed.” These and other subgroup analyzes should be considered when interpreting the study’s findings, such as those related to sleep and blood pressure.
More research may be needed to understand how changes in activities such as sleeping and walking can affect blood pressure.
Researchers from this study advocate strategies that allow people to incorporate more exercise into their daily lives. This can help create meaningful changes in blood pressure. Study author Joanna M. BlodgettPhD, recently noted the following press release:
“Our findings suggest that exercise is the key to lowering blood pressure for most people, rather than less strenuous forms of exercise such as walking. The good news is that regardless of your physical capabilities, it doesn’t take long for a positive effect on blood pressure to occur. The unique thing about our exercise variable is that it includes all exercise-like activities, from running to the bus or a short bike ride, many of which can be integrated into daily routines. For those who don’t exercise much, walking still had some positive benefits for blood pressure. But if you want to change your blood pressure, increasing the burden on the cardiovascular system through exercise will have the greatest effect.”
Additional, other actions can help manage blood pressure, such as achieving a healthy weight, limiting alcohol consumption, not smoking and managing stress levels. While making lifestyle changes to improve blood pressure, people should communicate regularly with doctors and specialists as necessary.
As Chen also noted, “The best forms of exercise to lower blood pressure are those that involve aerobic activity, such as walking/jogging, cycling, and swimming/water aerobics. It is also helpful to do some strength training as this also helps to improve blood vessel function and improve blood pressure. People with high blood pressure should talk to their doctor about lifestyle factors that can help control blood pressure. In general, we recommend that people eat a healthy, balanced diet low in sodium, exercise regularly, get enough quality sleep, maintain a healthy weight, avoid tobacco and alcohol, and reduce sources of stress.
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