For years we’ve known that aerobic exercise lowers blood pressure. But what about strength training? A recent study published in Scientific Reports suggests strength training may lower blood pressure.
The researchers pored through 21,132 studies and found 14 studies that looked at the effect of strength training on blood pressure. They studied 253 participants aged 18 to 68 years who had hypertension. These participants received strength training 2-3 times weekly for at least 8 weeks. The most common study duration was 12 weeks, and the longest was 48 weeks.
All the patients had baseline and post-training blood pressure measurements. Other factors studied were load intensity and volume.
What do we know?
Hypertension affects about 1 billion people worldwide and is one of the leading causes of disability and death. It increases a person’s risk for kidney disease, heart disease and stroke.
We know that lifestyle choices contribute to hypertension. Implicated factors include
- A sedentary life
- High salt diet
- Eating a lot of processed food
- Taking a lot of alcohol
- Poor sleep habits
Lifestyle interventions, including exercise, have been critical to treating hypertension. Experts recommends at least 150 minutes of exercise each week to lower blood pressure.
What does the result show?
The meta-analysis showed that strength training significantly reduced blood pressure in hypertensive patients. Systolic blood pressure dropped by 9.5mmHg, and diastolic blood pressure dropped by an average of 5.19mmHg. This reduction in blood pressure was seen in all age groups. However, the study demonstrated a greater blood pressure reduction in patients aged 18-50 years.
Blood pressure lowering was seen at about the 20th strength training session. With aerobic exercises, blood pressure lowering benefits are seen at about the 10th session.
Furthermore, all subgroups of study duration showed that strength training was beneficial for blood pressure lowering. They also found higher effects with increasing load intensity but not with the weekly frequency.
The investigators concluded that “strength training performed with moderate to vigorous load intensity 2 or 3 times a week performed for at least 8 weeks is a good strategy to decrease blood pressure in hypertensive patients.”
