Ask Well: The Best Exercise to Reduce Blood Pressure

Is your doctor going to prescribe this rather than pills?
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/ask-well-the-best-exercise-to-reduce-blood-pressure/?

Take your pick, as the best exercise to control high blood pressure seems to be virtually any exercise, like walking or cycling or light weight training, especially if your workouts are spread throughout the day.

“Even standing might work,” says Glenn Gaesser, the director of the Healthy Lifestyles Research Center at Arizona State University and an expert on exercise and hypertension.

Exercise lowers blood pressure in large part by altering blood vessel stiffness so blood flows more freely. This effect occurs during and immediately after a workout, so the blood-pressure benefits from exercise are most pronounced right after you work out.

As a result, the best way to fight hypertension may be to divvy up your workout into bite-size pieces. In a 2012 study by Dr. Gaesser, three 10-minute walks spread throughout the day were better at preventing subsequent spikes in blood pressure — which can indicate worsening blood pressure control — than one 30-minute walk. And if even a 10-minute walk sounds daunting, try standing more often. In another study led by Dr. Gaesser and published in August, overweight volunteers with blood pressure problems were asked to sit continuously during an eight-hour workday while their blood pressure was monitored. The readings were, as expected, unhealthy.

But when, during another workday, those volunteers stood up every hour for at least 10 minutes, their blood pressure readings improved substantially.

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