Lower your blood pressure with strength training 2 or 3 times per week
According to one study, moderate to vigorous strength training practiced 2 or 3 times per week is an effective method for reducing high blood pressure.
DOIs: 10.1038/s41598-022-26583-3
Reducing blood pressure with aerobic exercise has been well studied, but few studies have been done on the effects of strength exercise on high blood pressure.
More than 21,000 studies were analyzed for this review and a Cochrane meta-analysis was also performed. Evaluation focused on the effects of variables including training dose response, age, load, frequency, and volume.
Cardiovascular diseases are a major cause of death globally, and hypertension accounts for 13.8% of cardiovascular disease deaths. High blood pressure is when the systolic blood pressure is higher than 140 mmHg and/or the diastolic blood pressure is higher than 90 mmHg. Hypertension is a multifactorial condition caused by problems such as a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, drinking too much alcohol, and an unhealthy diet.
Although strength training is a known option to help control blood pressure, there is insufficient evidence for the most effective procedure. This study involved 253 hypertensive individuals with a mean age of 59.66 years, with a meta-analysis focusing on baseline and post-exercise high blood pressure responses to studies evaluating effects of training for 8 weeks or more.
An average of 8-10 weeks of strength training reduces systolic blood pressure by 10 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by 4.79 mmHg. Effective results appear around the 20th training session. Blood pressure remains down for about 14 weeks after stopping exercise.
A total of 21,132 studies were analyzed for this systematic review to find strong evidence for the impact of strength training on high blood pressure. Evidence has been found in previous studies, but this study collected other evidence for the effects of load, age, frequency, and intensity. After excluding 21,035 studies that did not fulfill the objectives, 43 of the remaining 97 studies were excluded for duplicate, leaving 54 studies for analysis with 14 studies deemed relevant enough for inclusion in the review. price.
The results of the analysis showed that moderate-to-vigorous strength training was most effective for lowering blood pressure, with a minimum frequency of twice a week and a minimum duration of 8 weeks.
Loads of moderate to vigorous intensity are classified as over 60% of the heaviest weight a participant can lift only once, known as the 1-rep max, so for 1 rep With a maximum of 10 kg, a training load of over 6 kg will be most effective.
The majority of study participants were between the ages of 60 and 68. A subgroup analysis found that age had a greater influence on the effects of strength training, which showed a significant reduction in blood pressure in the group. age 18 to 50 compared with age group 51 to 70 group.
Previous research has shown that strength training increases heart rate, as well as nitrous oxide production, which promotes vasodilation by widening the diameter of blood vessels and enhancing blood flow.
In the long term, it facilitates adaptation including improved cardiac performance, reduced resting heart rate, lower blood pressure and higher VO2max, which is the maximum oxygen consumption achievable with exercise. strong. VO2max is related to heart health and is usually measured in milliliters of oxygen/kg body weight/min.
Some limitations of the analysis were the inclusion of individuals taking antihypertensive drugs in 11 of the 14 studies, including ACE-inhibitor beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, and diuretics. In addition, in some studies, women and men were included in the same group, which precludes a gender-sensitive analysis.
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