• Maintaining blood pressure within a healthy range helps improve cardiovascular health and lowers the risk of death from certain causes such as heart attack.

• A recent study found that increasing physical activities, such as running or cycling, by just five minutes per day can help reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

• The results further confirm that longer increases in physical activity could lead to clinically meaningful decreases in blood pressure.

High blood pressure remains a common problem in the United States, affecting almost half the adult population. This contributes to death and increases the risk serious problems like heart disease and stroke. Experts want to find the most research-backed methods to help reduce high blood pressure.

A study published in Traffic examined the effects of different activities on blood pressure.

Researchers found that increasing physical activities like running, cycling, and stair climbing was associated with a decrease in blood pressure. For example, the results suggest that replacing 21 minutes of sedentary time with physical activity could reduce systolic blood pressure by about 2 mmHg.

The results highlight how the amount of exercise can influence blood pressure and that daily changes can greatly influence cardiovascular health.

How does physical activity affect blood pressure?

The researchers in the current study wanted to examine activity patterns over a 24-hour period and how they influenced blood pressure, both systolic and diastolic readings. The researchers divided the activity into six distinct categories:

1. Sleep

2. Sedentary behavior

3. Standing

4. Slow walk

5. Fast walking

6. Exercise-like activities such as cycling and running

The cross-sectional study included data from 14,761 participants from six observational cohort studies. These studies involved participants wearing motion trackers to examine activity levels. People were eligible for analysis if they met certain criteria, such as wearing the motion tracker for twenty hours or more per day and having data from at least one weekday and one weekend day.

Participants spent an average of 16 minutes per day on exercise-type activities and an average of more than 10 hours per day in sedentary behavior. Nearly a quarter of participants were taking medication for high blood pressure, and the average blood pressure was around 132/79 mmHg.

All cohorts took into account certain covariates, such as alcohol consumption, smoking and age. Some cohorts collected data on additional covariates, such as mobility and education level.

The researchers were able to conduct several analyzes to examine the available data. They found that doing more physical activity and sleeping was associated with lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure. In contrast, higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure were associated with higher levels of sedentary behavior.

Reducing sedentary time may improve blood pressure

When looking at activity reallocation, researchers found that replacing any other activity with physical activity was most beneficial for blood pressure. For example, researchers found that replacing five minutes of any other behavior with physical activity was associated with a decrease of about 0.68 points in systolic blood pressure and about 0.54 points in blood pressure. diastolic.

The results also suggest that greater physical activity could lead to more significant reductions.

For example, researchers estimated that a drop of about two points in systolic blood pressure was associated with replacing 21 minutes of sedentary activity with physical activity while leaving other activities unchanged. The 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 results suggest that replacing sedentary activity with other activities like walking could also improve diastolic blood pressure, but that the reallocation of time had to be greater. For example, replacing 95 minutes of sedentary behavior with 95 minutes of slow walking could help lower diastolic blood pressure by one point.

In sensitivity analyses, researchers found some evidence that more brisk walking might actually make diastolic blood pressure worse.

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, California, noted the following about the study results: Medical news today:

What are the limitations of the study?

The research has some limitations, including a lack of diversity, even though it includes many participants. Second, the nature of the study did not allow for long-term data collection, which could be useful for further research.

The study cannot establish causal associations. Researchers recognized the possibility of misclassification, overlap, or undetected data regarding behavior measurement. They also acknowledged that they did not directly measure activity intensity and were unable to examine sleep quality or how exercise sessions affected associations. Instead, they were only able to look at the average length of time participants exercised each day.

Some cohort data relied on participant self-report, and some elements, such as how blood pressure data were collected, varied between cohorts.

Additionally, a subgroup analysis of isometric log-ratio observed no “interaction between sedentary behavior or exercise levels with SBP (systolic blood pressure).” This analysis as well as other subgroups should be taken into account when interpreting study results, 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 may affect blood pressure.

Can lifestyle changes help manage hypertension?

The researchers in this study advocate strategies for people to incorporate more exercise into their daily lives. This could help create significant changes in blood pressure. Author of the study Joanna M. BlodgettPhD, noted the following in a recent press release:

In addition, other actions can help control blood pressure, such as achieving a healthy weight, limiting alcohol consumption, not smoking, and managing stress levels. While making lifestyle changes to improve their blood pressure, people should communicate regularly with doctors and specialists if necessary.

As Chen also noted: “The best forms of exercise for lowering blood pressure are those that involve aerobic activity, such as walking/jogging, cycling, and swimming/water aerobics.” It’s also helpful to incorporate some strength training, as this also helps improve blood vessel function and improve blood pressure… People with high blood pressure should talk to their doctor about factors related to the mode lifestyle that can help control blood pressure. In general, we recommend that people eat a healthy and balanced diet, low in sodium, practice regular physical activity, get enough quality sleep, maintain a healthy weight, avoid tobacco and alcohol and reduce sources of stress.

See the original article on Medical news today