A SIMPLE EXERCISE HELPS MAINTAIN NORMAL BLOOD PRESSURE
A simple exercise helps maintain normal blood pressure: study results
The study involved 100 people, whose average age was 37 years.
Doing wall sits or planks just once a week can help lower blood pressure and maintain it. According to The Independent , this is according to the results of a new clinical study published in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine.Specifically, the researchers tested whether certain types of exercise could help maintain the positive effects on blood pressure when done less frequently.
The researchers paid special attention to isometric exercises—a type of strength training during which muscles tense, but the joints remain motionless and muscle length remains constant. This differs from traditional strength exercises, such as dumbbell curls or weighted squats, where muscles contract and stretch during the movement.
The study involved 100 participants with an average age of 37. They performed interval training (IET). During these workouts, high-intensity bouts, where the heart rate rises to 85% of maximum, last up to five minutes. These bouts are followed by shorter recovery or rest periods. Participants gradually reduced the frequency of their workouts to determine whether the health benefits could be maintained by doing them less frequently.During the eight-week study, the researchers also analyzed the biological changes that accompanied the blood pressure reduction. After four weeks, the participants who performed endurance interval training had blood pressure that was approximately 9.5 mmHg lower than those in the control group. Over the next four weeks, those who trained once or twice a week were able to maintain some of the achieved blood pressure reduction.
Participants who continued to exercise three times a week experienced the greatest benefit. Meanwhile, those who included only one or two isometric exercises, such as wall sits or planks, also managed to maintain lower blood pressure.“Our results suggest that exercising three times a week is associated with greater reductions in blood pressure and a broader range of physiological benefits,” said study co-author Jim Wiles.
At the same time, even one workout a week can help maintain some of the health benefits over a short four-week period, according to a professor of exercise physiology at Canterbury Christ Church University.
Overall, the results confirm that the frequency of isometric exercise matters, affecting both the effects on blood pressure and the benefits for heart health.
Scientists called this “the first convincing evidence of a dose-response relationship between the effects of isometric training, that is, the frequency of training.”
“Physical activity doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. Our results suggest that when life gets busy, as it often does, even switching to just one isometric workout per week can help maintain the blood pressure benefits already achieved until a person can return to a more regular schedule,” explained Harry Swift, another author of the study.
This flexibility, he says, could make isometric training a more accessible and sustainable way to control blood pressure and maintain cardiovascular health over the long term.
