b'researchers also confirmed that aerobic exercise effectively lowered both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. But aerobics arent the only type of exercise that can benefit blood pressure. One 2023 review of 14 studies found that strength training was also highly effective for improving hypertension.In this review, researchers found that, on average,810 weeks of strength training led to a reduction of 10 mmHg in systolic pressure and 4.79 mmHg in diastolic pressure. But you dont need to hit the gym or even purchase dumbbells to get these blood pressure benefits. An earlier study that appeared Create an Individualized in the journal Clinical and Experimental Exercise Plan Hypertension found that systolic blood The old adage is true: the best exercise is the one youpressure decreased within 30 minutes can stick with. If the gym is not your style, lace up a goodof performing a session of body-weight pair of walking shoes and walk a half hour every day. Ifstrength training. Body-weight workouts youve got achy joints, swimming or water aerobics mayinclude exercises like push-ups, squats, be more your speed. Whatever gets you moving is theand lunges that use your own body right activity for you. However, a combination of aerobicweight as resistance. exercise, strength training, and stretching appears to yield the best results. Butt Out How much exercise is enough? You should try to getAlthough cigarette smoking raises blood at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity orpressure temporarily, it does not appear 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week, or ato directly cause long-term hypertension. combination of the two. Aim for at least 30 minutes ofHowever, smoking does increase the aerobic activity most days of the week. If youre not usedrisk of heart attack and stroke in people to exercising, work slowly toward this goal. You can breakwho already have high blood pressure. your aerobic workout into three 10-minute sessions. ThisStudies have noted that if you have gives you the same benefit as one 30-minute session. hypertension and you also smoke, you increase your risk of coronary heart Any activity that increases your heart rate is considereddisease, stroke, and cardiac failure. aerobic activity. Some examples are: And researchers at Boston University nActive sports such asnChobanian & Avedisian School of Gardening, includingMedicine note that the risk of peripheral basketball or tennis mowing the lawn andartery disease skyrockets among nBiking raking leaves smokers with high blood pressure. nClimbing stairs nJoggingnDancing nSwimming Earlier research of 563,144 people taking nWalking part in the Asia Pacific Cohort Studies Collaboration found that smokers with 12BLO OD PRESSURE HEALTH'