Lower blood pressure with this simple lifestyle change: study

health

by Brooke Kato

Would you like to lower your blood pressure? If you sit a little less each day, you might see surprising results, experts say.

New research has revealed that even just a small reduction in your sedentary lifestyle can have surprising effects on your health.

Americans spend nearly a third of their day sitting. This statistic is said to be closely related to negative health effects.

Some studies have concluded that “small movements” throughout the day can offset the negative effects of sitting all day, while other studies have shown that just 22 minutes of daily exercise can significantly reduce the impact of sitting for long periods of time. report that this may be the key to balancing the effects of

But this new study found another way to reduce the risk. It's about cutting just 30 minutes of your daily sitting time.

The study, published last month in JAMA Open Network, looked at 283 older adults between the ages of 60 and 89, divided into two groups: an intervention group and a control group.

The control group attended 10 sessions with a health coach, setting goals for a healthier lifestyle that included exercise and eliminating sedentary habits.

Meanwhile, the intervention group received treatment according to the I-STAND method. They attended 10 health coaching sessions, set a goal to spend less time sitting, and received a standing desk and fitness tracker to remind them to take breaks when sitting for long periods of time.

The research team found that the sedentary intervention was “effective in reducing sitting time by more than 30 minutes per day” and that standing time increased during the six months of observation.

On average, the intervention group spent about 32 minutes less per day sitting, while the control group saw no change in sitting time.

However, while this result fell short of the researchers' goal of reducing sitting time by 2 hours per day, the secondary result of lower blood pressure in the intervention group showed that even small changes in habits can reduce cardiovascular risk. It suggested the possibility of improving health conditions.

Researchers believe the significant difference in blood pressure was due to recruiting “participants who were at high risk for hypertension and who aimed to reduce sedentary time and reduce prolonged sitting.” , the study authors wrote.

They suggested that in populations at high risk for cardiovascular disease and related health conditions, “small changes in sitting posture may be sufficient to improve blood pressure.”