Lower blood pressure with mild exercise

Even low levels of exercise can boost fitness and significantly reduce blood pressure.

According to a University of Ulster (UU) study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, thirty minutes of moderate exercise, three times a week, can benefit wellbeing by boosting fitness and considerably lowering blood pressure.
 
More than 100 healthy but inactive civil servants, aged between 40 and 60, participated in the study that saw them introduce an exercise programme for 12 weeks with no changes to their diet.
 
The group was divided into three, with one group assigned to 30 minutes of brisk walking for five days a week, while another group walked briskly three days a week for 30 minutes. The remainder were not asked to change their current lifestyle.
 
Pedometers were used to help participants monitor their walking and every participant recorded how long they walked for.

Taking a walk

Dr Mark Tully, from the Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Research Institute at UU said: “We recorded blood pressure, blood cholesterol, weight, hip and waist girth, and overall fitness at the start and finish of the 12-week study.
 
“Our findings showed that systolic blood pressure and waist and hip girth fell significantly in both groups of walkers. Overall fitness also increased.
 
“Falls of a few millimetres in blood pressure and shrinkage of a few centimetres in hip and waist circumference are enough to make a difference to an individual’s risk of dying from a cardiovascular disease.
 
“Furthermore, the findings show that moderate intensity physical exercise below the recommended levels (30 minutes of moderately strenuous exercise on at least five days of the week), still makes a difference to health,” Dr Tully concluded.
 
 

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