By: Thomas Pickering, MD, DPhil, FRCP, Director of Integrative and Behavioral Cardiology Program
of the Cardiovascular Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York.

It is well known that aerobic exercise can lower blood pressure for several hours after the exercise, but it is less clear how much exercise is needed to have an effect. A two-part Canadian study has examined this question.

In the first part, 13 healthy subjects exercised on a bicycle at 70% of their maximum oxygen uptake, either for 15, 30, or 45 minutes, and their blood pressure was measured before and one hour after. After all three bouts of exercise, the blood pressure was reduced from the pre-exercise level for the whole hour following exercise, with a maximum reduction of 12/5 mmHg occurring at about 45 minutes after the exercise.

In the second part, 8 subjects with mild hypertension exercised for 10 or 30 minutes. Again the blood pressure was reduced after exercise, by the same amount (up to 14/8 mmHg) for both the 10- and the 30-minute bouts.

Doctor’s comments

Other studies have suggested that the same benefits from exercise can be obtained whether the exercise is done all at once or in smaller bouts. This study suggests that a brief bout of vigorous exercise can have a substantial blood pressure lowering effect for an hour or longer (unfortunately measurements were stopped after one hour).

Where it was published