Doing these exercises for 5 minutes may help lower blood pressure, study says

Do you have limited time for exercise? A new study published by researchers from University College London and the University of Sydney shows that adding just five minutes of exercise a day has benefits.

Study participants had lower blood pressure when they added five minutes a day to vigorous exercise, such as jogging, climbing stairs or cycling. The study shows that a greater effect was observed when adding about 20 minutes of exercise.

Replacing any less active behavior with five minutes of exercise could reduce systolic blood pressure by 0.68 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and diastolic blood pressure by 0.54, the researchers said.

University College London stated that a reduction in systolic blood pressure of 2 mmHg. Art. and a decrease in diastolic blood pressure by 1 mmHg. Art. equivalent to a reduction in cardiovascular disease risk of approximately 10%.

“Our findings suggest that for most people, exercise is the key to lowering blood pressure, rather than less strenuous forms of movement such as walking,” said Jo Blodgett, first author of the study. “The good news is that no matter what physical ability you have, it won’t take long to see a positive effect on your blood pressure. What’s unique about our exercise variable is that it includes all exercise-like activities, from climbing stairs to short bike rides, many of which can be integrated into daily life.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that only 24.2% of U.S. adults meet recommendations for both aerobic activity and muscle strengthening.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises Adults should get at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week in addition to two days of strength training.

“The finding that doing just five extra minutes of exercise or vigorous episodic activity per day can be associated with noticeably lower blood pressure readings highlights how effective short bouts of more intense movement can be for controlling blood pressure,” Emmanuel Stamatakis, senior researcher – said the author of the study.

The results of the study were published in Circulation magazine.