Jan.2025 Just 5 minutes Extra Exercise a Day could Lower your Blood Pressure

Health and Exercise Research

A recent study has emphasised that short bursts of everyday activities that raise heartrate can be beneficial for healthy blood pressure.

The study carried out by researchers at UCL and the University of Sydney and supported by the British Heart Foundation included over 14000 people in 5 countries.

The exercise group consisted of activities such as running, cycling or stair climbing. They found that replacing any less active behaviour (such as slow or fast walking, sitting or standing) with 5 minutes of exercise could lower systolic blood pressure SBP (the “top” number in a reading) by 0.68mmHg and diastolic blood pressure DBP (the “bottom” number) by 0.54mmHg.

A 2 mmHg reduction in SBP which equates to a ‘clinically meaningful’ improvement of 10% reduction in cardiovascular disease risk could be achieved by 20 additional minutes of exercise; whereas a 1mmHg reduction of DBP or 10% reduction of risk could be achieved by 10 additional minutes of exercise.

The findings suggest that while walking does have some positive benefits for blood pressure, putting more demand on the cardiovascular system through exercise will have a greater effect.

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