Hey, who wouldn’t want to squeeze in just five more minutes of exercise? It might not seem like much, but a recent study suggests that even that little bit can help lower your blood pressure.
Dr. Jo Blodgett, the lead author of the study and a senior research fellow at University College London’s Institute of Sport, Exercise & Health, pointed out that adding just a few minutes of higher-intensity activities—like brisk walking or cycling—into your daily routine can really impact blood pressure levels.
The research looked at data from nearly 15,000 people who wore activity monitors while their blood pressure was tracked. The findings were published on Wednesday in the journal Circulation.
The researchers categorized daily activities into six types: sleep, sitting around, slow walking, fast walking, standing up, and more intense exercise. They then analyzed how swapping out sedentary time for these other activities could affect health.
According to Blodgett’s findings, even an extra five minutes of exercise each day was linked to lower blood pressure.
And if you can manage 10 to 20 more minutes? That’s associated with a significant reduction in blood pressure—specifically a drop of 2mmHg for systolic and 1mmHg for diastolic measurements. Dr. Susan Cheng from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center highlighted that these kinds of changes could lead to a lower risk of heart disease and stroke.
So even if we tend to be pretty inactive most days, this study shows that small adjustments can really make a big difference!
Spending too much time sitting around
Cheng pointed out that years of research have indicated a link between increased physical activity and better blood pressure levels.
What makes this latest study unique is its focus on how people actually live their daily lives, instead of just having them follow a set exercise routine, according to Dr. Mark Hamer, a coauthor and professor of sport and exercise medicine at University College London.
He mentioned in an email that one challenge with traditional studies is that participants often go back to being inactive once they complete the program. Cheng also highlighted that the data from this study revealed just how sedentary people really are.
On average, middle-aged adults spend about 11 hours a day sitting, with only around 3 hours standing, 1-2 hours walking slowly, and about an hour walking briskly.
Surprisingly, they typically engage in any form of exercise for only about 15-16 minutes each day. It’s crucial to understand that this pattern of inactivity is pretty common across the entire population.
It’s not just a simple stroll in the park.
This study is observational, which means it can highlight connections but can’t definitively prove that more activity directly leads to better blood pressure.
However, the findings are strong enough that I’d definitely mention this research when discussing with my patients how they might boost their daily exercise to improve their vascular health and long-term heart health, Cheng mentioned in an email.
Interestingly, the data suggested that prolonged sitting might have a more negative impact on blood pressure for women compared to men. This leads me to believe that while the main insights from the study are relevant for everyone, they could be particularly crucial for women, Cheng added.
But improving blood pressure may require more than just taking a stroll in the park. Blodgett pointed out that swapping out sedentary time for non-exercise activities—like sleeping, standing around, or slow walking—doesn’t seem to offer much benefit.
To really make a difference in blood pressure (if any), you’d need to significantly adjust your daily schedule to replace sitting with those lower-intensity activities.
Instead, focusing on incorporating small bursts of higher-intensity exercise into your day might be a more practical approach.
A solid guideline for exercise is to reach a point where you’re breathless enough that chatting in full sentences becomes tough, according to Dr. Shaan Khurshid from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, who wasn’t part of this study.
The good news? The most significant improvements were seen in those who were least active initially—so you can ease into it! If you’re currently not engaging in much higher-intensity activity at all or just a little bit, try adding an extra 5 minutes each day and increase it as you feel comfortable doing so!