Five minutes of daily exercise lowers blood pressure, study finds
Five minutes of exercise a day is enough to lower blood pressure, a study has found.
Exercise has long been known to benefit people with high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, and it also lowers the risk of developing the condition.
But data from more than 14,000 people suggest that five minutes of extra exercise a day can have a detectable difference.
Replacing less active behaviour with five minutes of exercise can lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, researchers say.
Suitable exercise includes walking up stairs or cycling, as well as going to the gym or for a run.
The health benefits were also found to increase with more exercise too, the study found.
Systolic blood pressure – the first number in a reading that reflects the pressure in the arteries when the heart pumps – dropped by 0.68mmHg after five minutes of exercise.
Diastolic blood pressure – the second number, which tracks the force on blood vessels between pumps – dropped by 0.54mmHg after the same time.
Ten minutes of exercise is enough to drop diastolic blood pressure by 1mmHg, while 20 minutes can lower systolic by a “clinically meaningful” 2mmHg, the study found.
Normal blood pressure is between 90/60 mmHg and 120/80mmHg, according to the NHS.
“The finding that doing as little as five extra minutes of exercise or vigorous incidental activities per day could be associated with measurably lower blood pressure readings emphasises how powerful short bouts of higher intensity movement could be for blood pressure management,” said Prof Emmanuel Stamatakis, study author from the University of Sydney.
The researchers combined data from six studies with a total of 14,761 people from five countries who all wore activity-tracking devices and regularly had blood pressure tests.
Data showed that, on average, people do 16 minutes of exercise a day, walk slowly for one hour, and walk quickly for another hour.
“Our findings suggest that, for most people, exercise is key to reducing blood pressure, rather than less strenuous forms of movement such as walking,” said study author Dr Jo Blodgett from University College London.
“The good news is that whatever your physical ability, it doesn’t take long to have a positive effect on blood pressure.
“What’s unique about our exercise variable is that it includes all exercise-like activities, from climbing the stairs to a short cycling errand, many of which can be integrated into daily routines.
“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.”
The latest research, published in the journal Circulation, comes after several studies showing the benefits of exercise on blood pressure.
A study published in 2023 found that isometric exercises, which involve holding certain positions of mild difficulty for a couple of minutes at a time, reduce blood pressure by 80 per cent more than aerobic exercise.
Examples of such exercises include the plank, a wall sit, straightened legs with weights and holding a closed fist against a spring.
Data from more than 15,000 people in more than 200 studies found that aerobic exercise such as walking or cycling, reduced blood pressure by 4.49/2.53 mmHg, on average.
However, isometric training was found to lower systolic pressure by 8.24 mmHG (83 per cent more than cardio) and diastolic by four units (58 per cent better).
The single most effective exercise a person could do was a wall sit, data showed.
Dr Jamie O’Driscoll, lead author of the study at Canterbury Christ Church University, told The Telegraph last year: “Performing four two-minute wall sits [with two minutes rest in between] three times per week is an effective way to reduce your blood pressure.”
“Isometric exercise can be performed in your own home in the form of a wall squat, or handgrip,” he added.