It only takes a few minutes a day to lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease!

Taking 5 minutes a day to exercise may sound insignificant, but can it have a big impact on your health? Recently, a number of studies have found that just 5 minutes of physical activity a day can lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, and extend life!

Copyright images in the gallery. Reprinting and using them may lead to copyright disputes.

Just 5 minutes a day can lower blood pressure and prolong life

1

Exercising for 5 minutes a day can help lower blood pressure

In November 2024, a study published in the journal Circulation by researchers from University College London and University of Sydney, Australia showed that an extra 5 minutes of exercise a day that increases heart rate, such as climbing stairs, running, or cycling, can lower systolic blood pressure by 0.68 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by 0.54 mmHg.

It can be seen that exercising 5 minutes more a day can help lower blood pressure. In addition, exercising an extra 20 to 27 minutes a day will lead to clinically significant improvements in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, or reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease by 28% at the population level.

2

Exercising for 5 minutes a day can reduce the risk of death from all causes by nearly half

In 2023, a study published in The Lancet Public Health showed that moderate to vigorous intermittent exercise lasting only 5 to 10 minutes a day can dramatically reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality.

According to the specific groups, compared with those who exercised for less than 1 minute a day:

People who exercised for 1 to 3 minutes a day had a 34% lower risk of all-cause mortality and a 29% lower risk of cardiovascular events.

People who exercised for 3 to 5 minutes a day had a 44% lower risk of all-cause mortality and a 38% lower risk of cardiovascular events.

People who exercise 5 to 10 minutes a day have a 52% lower risk of all-cause mortality and a 41% lower risk of cardiovascular events.

In summary, this study shows that just 5 to 10 minutes of moderate to vigorous intermittent exercise a day can effectively protect against the threat of cardiovascular disease and death, and the longer the exercise time, the more significant the effect.

Daily exercise to lower blood pressure, these kinds of exercise are best

A 2023 study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine noted that "isometric exercise" (planks, wall squats, and horse stances) is the best choice for lowering blood pressure.

Regarding the blood pressure lowering effects of various exercises, the researchers analyzed the results and found that:

1. Isometric training (horse stance, wall squat, plank support, etc.) can reduce blood pressure by 8.24/4 mmHg;

2. Dynamic resistance training (push-ups, squats, weightlifting, etc.) can reduce blood pressure by 4.55/3.04 mmHg;

3. Aerobic training (cycling, walking, running, etc.) can reduce blood pressure by 4.49/2.53 mmHg;

4. High-intensity interval training can reduce blood pressure by 4.08/2.5 mmHg;

5. Aerobic exercise combined with dynamic resistance training can lower blood pressure by 6.04/2.54 mmHg.

Among them, wall squatting and running are the most effective modes for lowering systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure respectively.

What needs special reminder here is that patients with hypertension should exercise according to their own situation.

People with well-controlled blood pressure can choose moderate-intensity or high-intensity aerobic exercise.

Moderate-intensity exercise is characterized by slightly faster breathing and heart rate, slight shortness of breath, and the ability to speak but not sing. High-intensity exercise is characterized by significantly faster breathing and heart rate, shortness of breath, and inability to speak coherently.

In addition, remember the "four don'ts" when exercising:

Don't hold your breath.

Don't spin quickly

Don't exert force suddenly

Don't bow your head too deeply

If you experience palpitations, chest tightness, chest pain, dizziness, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, cold sweats, etc. during exercise, you should stop exercising immediately and seek medical attention if necessary.

It’s easy to do 5 minutes of “fragmented exercise” every day

Whenever people mention exercise, many of them always think that it takes a whole block of time to complete it, and it is best to do it in a gym or on a sports field. Therefore, they find it difficult to stick to exercise, or even simply give up.

In fact, according to current research, there is no need to stick to the traditional long-term, continuous exercise mode. You can easily reap significant health benefits by doing some "fragmented exercise" in your daily life!

1. When waiting for or riding a bus, you can do heel raises to strengthen your legs and shape your leg muscles. You can also stretch your upper limb muscles by pulling up the handrails.

2. When going to work or going home from get off work, walk or ride a shared bike instead of taking the bus. If the commute is long, you can get off the bus a few stops in advance and walk or ride a shared bike to complete the last few kilometers. Brisk walking can improve physical fitness. You don’t need to walk to the point of sweating on your forehead, just a slight increase in heart rate is enough.

3. When you get home, don’t take the elevator every time. Climbing the stairs is also a good exercise.

4. After returning home, playing games, running, jumping and fighting with children is also a form of physical exercise.

5. Do regular tiptoeing and stretching exercises while brushing your teeth and washing your face in the morning.

6. When cooking at home, you can do squats while washing vegetables.

7. After eating and don’t want to go out for exercise, just walk back and forth in the living room for a dozen laps.

8. Before going to bed at night, lie on the bed and do three or four minutes of air bicycle exercises.

9. When watching TV or listening to the radio, you can do squats, stretching, push-ups and other exercises. You can also prepare a small dumbbell or elastic band to add a little weight for better results.

10. Radio gymnastics is a kind of freehand exercise that does not require any equipment and can be performed anytime and anywhere. You can follow the radio to exercise or use commands to control the rhythm. Each movement has a certain effect. It can not only exercise the joints, muscles and ligaments of various parts of the body, but also help correct the posture.

References

[1]Device-Measured 24-Hour Movement Behaviors and Blood Pressure: A 6-Part Compositional Individual Participant Data Analysis in the ProPASS Consortium.Circulation.doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.124.06982

[2]Brief bouts of device-measured intermittent lifestyle physical activity and its association with major adverse cardiovascular events and mortality in people who do not exercise: a prospective cohort study. Lancet Public Health. 2023;8(10):e800-e810.

[3]Exercise training and resting blood pressure: a large-scale pairwise and network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Br J Sports Med. 2023 Jul 25:bjsports-2022-106503.

[4] 2023-12-28 Health News: "Three considerations for patients with hypertension when exercising"

[5] 2022-08-15 Yanzhao Sports "Too busy to have time? A step-by-step guide to fragmented exercise"

[6] 2023-02-08 Sichuan Sports "Exercise for 1 minute to see results, 3 fragmented exercises to help you in your struggle!"

Planning and production

Source: Health Times

Reviewer: Tang Qin, Director and Researcher of the Science Popularization Department of the Chinese Medical Association

Editor: Wang Mengru

Proofread by Xu Lailinlin