How To Lower Blood Pressure in 10 Minutes

High Blood Pressure Complications

Hypertension has long been linked to an increased risk for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke and is often one of the first treatments undergone in medicine for the prevention of worsening of heart disease. The leading causes of hypertension are many which is why treatment for the condition can be complex.  In addition to prescribed medicine, diet, exercise, and quitting smoking are the typical treatments for hypertension. 

Walks Lower Blood Pressure Naturally 

A recent study, however, published in the Journal of Hypertension by researchers led by Janet Wallace from Indiana University compared the effects of four 10-minute walks a day to one 40-minute walk a day in people with high blood pressure. While both walks decreased blood pressure, the four short walks kept it down for 11 hours compared to only 7 hours for the one long walk.

This indicates that an effective course of treatment for hypertension includes cutting back on smoking, eating right, taking medications if they are prescribed by a doctor, and most notably exercise spread out throughout the day rather than all at once. Whether you are walking, lifting, swimming, etc. you should keep in mind that shorter more frequent bursts of exercise will help lower your blood pressure more efficiently than acting like a bum for 23 and a half hours straight every day.

How To Lower Blood Pressure - 40 Minutes A Day 

If you break down the hours in a day, 40-minutes of exercise spread out throughout the day should keep your blood pressure down four hours longer every day than if you exercised for forty minutes straight. That four hours every day ads up to a little more than a full day every week. It also means that every two days of working out all day long is similar to three days of working out all at once. In my book efficiency is something we all should be more interested in. I hope this helps motivate you!

...and if you really want to supercharge your fight against blood pressure, check out this recent blog post on lowering LDL cholesterol.

Source
Journal of Hypertension, Sept. 2006

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HazPhotos via Flickr