The surprisingly simple exercise that could lower your blood pressure

A surprisingly simple exercise routine could help lower blood pressure without requiring daily workouts or expensive equipment. In a study of 100 adults, researchers found that wall squats performed just once or twice a week helped maintain significant reductions in systolic blood pressure over the short term. New research suggests that exercising just once or twice a week may be enough to maintain some of the blood pressure benefits gained from regular physical activity, at least over a short period. However, people who continue exercising three times weekly may experience larger and more sustained improvements. The findings, published in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, suggest that even a single weekly session of isometric exercise could help people preserve improvements in blood pressure when they cannot commit to a more frequent workout schedule.

Isometric exercise involves tightening muscles while holding the body in a fixed position for several minutes. Common examples include wall squats, planks, and handgrip exercises. Earlier research has found that isometric training can lower blood pressure more effectively than other types of exercise, sometimes producing reductions comparable to or greater than those achieved with certain medications. However, researchers have not fully understood how often these exercises need to be performed to maintain their cardiovascular benefits. To investigate, researchers enrolled 100 adults