In This ArticleView AllIn This ArticleThe #1 Exercise For Blood PressureExercise TipsThe Bottom Line
In This ArticleView All
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In This Article
The #1 Exercise For Blood Pressure
Exercise Tips
The Bottom Line
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The Centers for Disease Control and Preventionreports that nearly half of adults in the U.S. have hypertension, confirming the importance of taking proactive measures in your daily life to improve your blood pressure. Having high blood pressure places individuals at higher risk for having a heart attack and/or stroke, a contributing factor to over a half-million deaths in 2021 alone.
Moving your body is an excellent way to help improve the strength of your heart. Having a strong and healthy heart helps to improve the efficiency with which it delivers blood throughout your body. This can help lower the pressure on your arteries, in turn lowering your blood pressure. Some research shows that incorporating physical activity into your routine may help delay the onset of high blood pressure.While both aerobic and resistance training exercises have shown promise to improve blood pressure, recent research has found one particular type of exercise that may provide an even more significant benefit. We spoke to leading fitness and nutrition professionals to get their take on the latest findings.
The #1 Exercise You Should Be Doing for Better Blood Pressure
TheBritish Journal of Sports Medicinerecentlyconducted a literature review to answer the question: What is the best exercise for better blood pressure? Of the thousands of studies on this topic, 270 randomized controlled trials were included in the final analysis. These studies included 15,827 participants, making it a large sample size to draw some preliminary conclusions.Researchers found that all forms of exercise positively benefited blood pressure, but isometric exercises—particularly wall sits—had the best effect.
Your heart is one of the most important muscles in your body, and supporting it is crucial for achieving better blood pressure. When you hold an isometric exercise like a wall sit, you are forcing your body to adapt to the change in pressure and muscle contraction, which in turn can help improve your blood pressure. Exercise specialist and registered dietitianChris Mohr, Ph.D., RD, shares, “Researchers think the potential added benefit to isometric exercise is that after holding a static exercise like wall sits for a period of time, there’s a sudden rush of blood when you relax. This rush increases blood flow.”
While the research points to incorporating isometric exercises, both Rodriguez and Mohr advise not to throw in the towel on your other exercise programs to just perform wall sits. Instead, Mohr suggests, “Complement what you might already be doing.” For instance, Rodriguez shares, “Most individuals will benefit from adding isometric exercises to a plan that includes weight-bearing strength and cardiovascular training.” She also cautions against depending on isometric exercises alone to reduce blood pressure, and reminds us, “In a real-life application, only completing a few rounds of wall squats and planks will likely take the enjoyment out of exercise and defeat the purpose.”
The #1 Activity to Support Your Heart Health, According to a Cardiologist
Tips for Adding Wall Squats into Your Routine
Whether fitness has been a part of your routine for a while or you’re just starting out on your exercise journey, isometric exercises can be a great addition to your routine. Before you get started, consider these tips from Rodriguez and Mohr.
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Physical activity is a wonderful addition to a healthy lifestyle, especially one aimed at improving your blood pressure and heart health. While current research highlights isometric exercises like wall sits as an effective form of movement, Mohr reminds us, “All exercise is amazing for blood pressure and all types have been shown to be effective.” Consider the type of movement you enjoy and make it a habit (like brushing your teeth). Once you’ve mastered that, then add isometric exercises—like wall sits—into your routine. It may be as simple as doing a 30-second wall sit with a 30-second plank hold prior to a cool-down from your typical workout.
Up Next:The Best and Worst Foods For Healthy Blood Pressure
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SourcesEatingWell uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy.Facts about hypertension | CdC.gov. (2023, July 6). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/facts.htmAlpsoy, Ş. (2020). Exercise and hypertension. InAdvances in Experimental Medicine and Biology(pp. 153–167).https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1792-1_10Edwards, J., Deenmamode, A. H. P., Griffiths, M., Arnold, O., Cooper, N. J., Wiles, J., & O’Driscoll, J. M. (2023). Exercise training and resting blood pressure: a large-scale pairwise and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.British Journal of Sports Medicine,57(20), 1317–1326.https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2022-106503
Sources
EatingWell uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy.Facts about hypertension | CdC.gov. (2023, July 6). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/facts.htmAlpsoy, Ş. (2020). Exercise and hypertension. InAdvances in Experimental Medicine and Biology(pp. 153–167).https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1792-1_10Edwards, J., Deenmamode, A. H. P., Griffiths, M., Arnold, O., Cooper, N. J., Wiles, J., & O’Driscoll, J. M. (2023). Exercise training and resting blood pressure: a large-scale pairwise and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.British Journal of Sports Medicine,57(20), 1317–1326.https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2022-106503
EatingWell uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy.
Facts about hypertension | CdC.gov. (2023, July 6). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/facts.htmAlpsoy, Ş. (2020). Exercise and hypertension. InAdvances in Experimental Medicine and Biology(pp. 153–167).https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1792-1_10Edwards, J., Deenmamode, A. H. P., Griffiths, M., Arnold, O., Cooper, N. J., Wiles, J., & O’Driscoll, J. M. (2023). Exercise training and resting blood pressure: a large-scale pairwise and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.British Journal of Sports Medicine,57(20), 1317–1326.https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2022-106503
Facts about hypertension | CdC.gov. (2023, July 6). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/facts.htm
Alpsoy, Ş. (2020). Exercise and hypertension. InAdvances in Experimental Medicine and Biology(pp. 153–167).https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1792-1_10
Edwards, J., Deenmamode, A. H. P., Griffiths, M., Arnold, O., Cooper, N. J., Wiles, J., & O’Driscoll, J. M. (2023). Exercise training and resting blood pressure: a large-scale pairwise and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.British Journal of Sports Medicine,57(20), 1317–1326.https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2022-106503
