Modest exercise reduces
blood pressure
By Dr. Narinder Saini M.D.
In patients with high blood pressure who were
previously sedentary, modest increases in physical
activity result in meaningful decreases in blood
pressure, according to a report in the August issue
of the American Journal of Hypertension
In an 8- week exercise intervention study, the researchers
examined the response to exercise training in 207
untreated patients with high blood pressure. The
subjects were divided into five groups depending
on duration per week of exercise: no regular exercise;
30 to 60 min/week; 61 to 90 min/week; 91 to 120
min/week; and more than 120 min/week.
No changes in blood pressure were observed in
the sedentary group. On the other hand, all of
the subjects in the exercise groups experienced
significant reductions in both systolic blood
pressure (top number in a pressure reading) and
diastolic blood pressure ( bottom number in a
pressure reading.)
"The magnitude of reductions in systolic
blood pressure was greater in the 61 to 90 min/week
group compared with the 30 to 60 min/week group,"
the investigators report. "There were no
greater reductions in systolic blood pressure
with further increases in exercise volume."
They note that guidelines recommend 30 to 60 minutes
of exercise on most days, although a recent study
found that just one hour of exercise per week
halved the risk of cardiovascular disease. "Even
30 to 60 minutes of exercise per week were sufficient"
for this purpose, they point out, while stressing
that more exercise is warranted "depending
on the cardiovascular risk factor of interest."
SOURCE: American Journal of Hypertension, August
2003.
|
