Five minutes of exercise a day can help to lower blood pressure

Exercise can be as simple as stair-climbing and uphill walking.

Recent research indicates that incorporating just a small amount of physical activity into your daily routine – such as brisk stair-climbing or carrying heavy shopping– can significantly lower your blood pressure.

This recent study, published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, was conducted by an collaboration led by the University College London (UCL) and University of Sydney

Engaging in just five minutes of physical activity each day might help lower blood pressure. Additionally, swapping out sedentary behaviours for 20-27 minutes of daily exercise, such as uphill walking, stair-climbing, running, or cycling, can result in a notable reduction in blood pressure, thereby improving your overall health and well-being.

Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, from the Charles Perkins Centre: 

“High blood pressure is one of the biggest health issues globally, but unlike some major causes of cardiovascular mortality, there may be relatively accessible ways to tackle the problem in addition to medication,”
“The finding that doing as little as five extra minutes of exercise per day could be associated with measurably lower blood pressure readings emphasizes how powerful short bouts of higher intensity movement could be for blood pressure management.”

Hypertension, or consistently high blood pressure, is a major cause of premature death globally. In the UK, it affects about one in three adults, with around 14.4 million people diagnosed with the condition. It can result in severe health issues such as stroke, heart attack, heart failure, kidney damage, and more, often referred to as the ‘silent killer’ due to its absence of noticeable symptoms.

The research team examined health information from 14,761 participants across five countries to investigate how swapping one type of movement behavior for another throughout the day relates to blood pressure. Each volunteer wore a device on their thigh to track their activity levels and blood pressure continuously during the day and night.

Daily movements were categorized into six groups: sleep, sedentary activities (like sitting), slow walking, fast walking, standing, and more intense exercises such as running, cycling, or climbing stairs.

The researchers employed statistical models to predict how changing various amounts of one behavior for another could affect blood pressure in different situations.

They found that replacing 20-27 minutes of daily sedentary time with physical activity might reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by up to 28 percent across the population.

First author Dr Jo Blodgett from the Division of Surgery and Interventional Science at UCL and the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health: 

“Our findings suggest that, for most people, exercise is key to reducing blood pressure, rather than less strenuous forms of movement such as walking,”
“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 running for a bus 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 still has 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.”

Professor Mark Hamer from UCL:

“Our findings show how powerful research platforms like the ProPASS consortium are for identifying relatively subtle patterns of exercise, sleep, and sedentary behavior that have significant clinical and public health importance.”

The NHS says adults aged under 65 should do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity a week.