How Just 5 Minutes of Daily Exercise Can Lower Your Blood Pressure

As little as five minutes of daily physical activity can reduce blood pressure and aid in preventing cardiovascular issues, according to research findings.

Incorporating brief periods of physical activity into your everyday schedule—like opting for the stairs over the elevator or going for a bike ride—can help lower these measurements.

Experts suggest that minor adjustments to daily habits, such as replacing five minutes of television viewing with five minutes of jogging, can substantially improve cardiovascular well-being.

The research indicates that exercises which increase your heartbeat, such as dancing, running, or even thorough housecleaning, offer the most advantages.

Researchers from University College London University College London (UCL) and the University of Sydney examined 14,761 individuals using activity trackers to investigate the connection between their daily movements and blood pressure levels.

Throughout the day, individuals typically allocated about seven hours for sleep, ten hours engaged in sedentary activities like sitting, three hours stood upright, an hour devoted to slow walking, another hour to brisk walking, and roughly 16 minutes partaking in exercises that elevated their heart rates, including running and cycling.

Adding an additional five minutes of physical activity that elevates your heartbeat, like jogging, cycling, or climbing stairs—substituting for another behavior—was shown to decrease systolic blood pressure (SBP) by 0.68 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) by 0.54 mmHg.

The first figure in a blood pressure measurement is systolic, indicating the pressure exerted as the heart pumps blood throughout the body. The second figure is diastolic, which denotes the pressure present when the heart is at rest between contractions.

According to the researchers, at a population level, decreasing systolic blood pressure (SBP) by 2 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) by 1 mmHg is roughly comparable to reducing the risk of heart disease by about 10 percent.

The research featured in Circulation suggests this can be accomplished by shifting 20-27 minutes away from other activities towards exercise for the higher figure, and redirecting 10-15 minutes for the lower one.

For instance, replacing 21 minutes of inactive sitting, 22 minutes of standing, or 26 minutes of leisurely walking with activities like cycling or running could produce similar outcomes in terms of systolic blood pressure.

To improve diastolic blood pressure, one could replace 10 minutes of brisk walking, 11 minutes of inactive sitting, or 13 minutes of sleep with appropriate physical activity.

In the UK, high blood pressure stands as the primary factor for strokes and heart attacks, affecting roughly 14 million adults, among whom approximately five million remain undiagnosed.

If not treated, the heart might enlarge gradually because of the elevated pressure, pump less efficiently, and could result in heart failure.

Dr. Jo Blodgett, the lead author from UCL, stated, "Our research indicates that for the majority of individuals, engaging in exercise is more effective at lowering blood pressure compared to milder activities like walking."

'Good news is that regardless of your physical capability, you can see a beneficial impact on your blood pressure relatively quickly.'

The distinctive aspect of our exercise variable is that it encompasses all types of activity akin to exercising, ranging from climbing stairs to brief cycling trips, most of which can easily be incorporated into everyday life.

'Even for individuals who don't engage in much physical activity, walking could still offer certain advantages when it comes to lowering blood pressure.'

'However, if you aim to alter your blood pressure, increasing the load on your cardiovascular system via exercise will yield the most significant impact.'