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Vigorous exercises that increase your heart rate — like cycling, climbing stairs, or running — could be more effective at reducing blood pressure than low-intensity forms of physical movement like walking, according to a recent Circulation study. In fact, increasing your duration of exercise by merely five minutes each day can further help in lowering your blood pressure levels.
Lead author of the study, Jo Blodgett from UCL Surgery & Interventional Science and the Institute of Sport, Exercise & Health, said in a press release: “The good news is that whatever your physical ability, it doesn’t take long to have a positive effect on blood pressure.”
“For those who don’t do a lot of exercise, walking did still have some positive benefits for blood pressure. But if you want to change your blood pressure, putting more demand on the cardiovascular system through exercise will have the greatest effect,” Blodgett added.
The researchers studied the health data of 14,761 volunteers residing in five countries who wore activity-tracking devices while exercising and walking. The researchers then divided their daily activities into six categories: sitting, sleeping, slow walking, fast walking, standing, and vigorous exercises.
They found that along with engaging in vigorous exercises, improving your sleep and walking and standing time can also meaningfully contribute to lowering your blood pressure levels. “Beyond the benefits attributed to exercise, substantial replacement of sedentary time with standing or slow walking were required to observe any clinically meaningful change in DBP (78 min/d and 95 min/d, respectively,” the authors noted. “The benefits of longer sleep duration for lower BP may be related to restorative processes that occur while sleeping. During sleep, there is reduced sympathetic activity. For example, nocturnal dipping is a common physiological occurrence, with a habitual reduction of 10% to 20% in BP compared with wakefulness. Over time, chronic sleep deprivation could lead to systemic arterial hypertension through increased cardiovascular strain, vasoconstriction, and sympathetic nervous system activity.”
“The exercise-like activities modeled in our study encompassed activities such as running, cycling, or inclined walking, and could include both structured, intentional exercise and incidental daily activities such as running for a bus or climbing stairs,” the researchers added. “Despite the known benefits of exercise, participation rates in structured exercise sessions remain low because of poor feasibility and desire for many middle-aged adults. Implementing daily changes of an additional five minutes of exercise-like activities provides realistic behavioral changes that could be readily integrated into daily habits and activities.”
Around 26% of the global population or 972 million people suffer from high blood pressure. By 2025, the prevalence rate of high blood pressure might increase to 29% as more people living in developing countries develop this condition. If left undiagnosed and untreated, high blood pressure can significantly increase the risk of stroke and heart disease.
Many of us struggle with sleep-related disorders nowadays. Insomnia is at the top of the list. It is a sleep disorder in which one may experience trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up too early. A specific exercise may help to tackle this, suggests a pooled data analysis of the available research.
Published in the open-access journal Family Medicine and Community Health, the study reveals that resistance or muscle-strengthening exercises (using weights or body weight) may be the most effective for tackling insomnia in older adults.
The analysis also suggests that aerobic exercise or a mix of strength, aerobic, balance, and flexibility exercises is also effective. With age, sleep quality tends to decline. About 1 in five older adults has insomnia, according to the researchers. Sleep is a vital function. Especially as one ages, sleep disruptions may tend to worsen health. Sleep is linked with many serious health problems, and it can also lead to cognitive impairment. Insomnia can also increase the likelihood of workplace underperformance and absenteeism, the researchers said.
Previous research has suggested that exercise helps to alleviate the symptoms of insomnia, however, it was not clear which type of exercise might be most helpful.
To explore this, the researchers reviewed clinical trials published until October 2022. These studies compared physical exercise with routine activities, usual care, non-physical activities, or health education in people diagnosed with insomnia, using the Global Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (GPSQI).
These studies analysed various types of exercises including aerobic, such as cycling, dancing, swimming, brisk walking, and gardening; resistance, such as using weights, push-ups, and planks; balance, such as step-ups, heel-to-toe walking; flexibility, such as gymnastics, yoga, and Pilates; and combination exercise encompassing a mix.
They also analysed data from 24 studies, involving 2045 adults aged at least 60 (average 70). Most were carried out in Asia (56%), North America (16%), South America (16%), and Europe (12%). One in five were carried out in nursing homes. More than half of the exercises were mild to moderate in intensity. Each session lasted about 50 minutes, done 2 to 3 times a week, with programs running for an average of 14 weeks. They found that combined exercise significantly improved the GPSQI by 2.35 points while aerobic activity improved it by 4.35 points.
Also, strength or resistance exercise was the most effective, improving the GPSQI by 5.75 points. Aerobic exercise improved the GPQSI by 3.76 points, while combination exercise improved it by 2.54.
“Exercise, particularly strengthening exercise and aerobic exercise, is beneficial for enhancing subjective sleep quality at a clinically significant level compared with normal activities,” the researchers concluded.
(Pic courtesy: iStock)
Wednesday, March 5, 2025 2:32PM
A sport like pickleball can take a lot out of you.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — A sport like pickleball can take a lot out of you.
In this week’s “Workout Wednesday,” fitness trainer Rhonda Murphy shares a few exercises to help you on the court.
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As you get older, it’s normal to feel less steady on your feet. Your strength and mobility naturally decline, as does your balance, which can increase your risk of falls.
In fact, according to the CDC, there are about 3 million emergency department visits a year due to older people experiencing falls.
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