Newswise — Everyday around-the-house
activities such as housecleaning, yard work and washing the car have
been shown to significantly lower blood pressure in people with
hypertension and prehypertension, Indiana University researchers
have found.
The study by Janet P. Wallace, professor
in IU Bloomington's Department of Kinesiology, and doctoral students
Jaume Padilla and Saejong Park, found that regardless of intensity,
four hours of accumulated daily "lifestyle physical activity" had
the effect of dropping study participants' blood pressure by a
category -- from hypertensive to prehypertensive and from
prehypertensive to normal -- for an average of eight and six hours,
respectively.
These preliminary findings indicate that
these lifestyle physical activities can be as effective as or more
effective than other lifestyle modifications, such as special diets
and exercise, in reducing high blood pressure. High blood pressure
typically is treated through lifestyle changes and medication.
"The findings indicate that physical
activity should be considered as an essential component in the
management of blood pressure," Padilla said.
Their findings appear in the August
issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
Uncontrolled, high blood pressure can
increase a person's risk for heart attack, heart failure, kidney
failure, stroke and blindness. Wallace said it is well documented
that exercise can help lower blood pressure. In recent years,
however, health practitioners and organizations have begun
recommending simple physical activity, which is not geared toward
improving physical fitness and can be less intense, as a way to
treat blood pressure despite the lack of research.
"We have a lot of people promoting it,
but we need more information," Wallace said.
Their research is one step in gathering
this evidence. Their study involved 28 people ages 42 to 63 who had
normal blood pressure, had prehypertension, or had a diagnosis of
hypertension made by a physician.
They were asked to accumulate 150
calories of house and gardening-type activities during a 12-hour
period.
They wore accelerometers, which measure
activity and intensity, and automated ambulatory blood pressure
monitors, so they could be monitored closely during both the 24-hour
period during which the activity occurred and during a 24-hour
period that did not include the activities.
Blood pressure measures how hard and
efficiently the heart pumps blood through the body and is measured
in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). Clinically, systolic blood
pressure measures how hard the heart works when it pumps blood.
Diastolic blood pressure measures the resistance to the blood when
the heart is not pumping.
Participants with hypertension had
systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg or greater. After the physical
activity, their systolic blood pressure dropped on average 12.9 mm
Hg for eight hours. Participants with prehypertension had systolic
blood pressure of 120-139 mm Hg. After the physical activity, their
systolic blood pressure dropped on average 6 mm Hg for six hours.
The diastolic blood pressure of the study participants was
essentially normal and was not affected by the physical activity.
Padilla said the next step in their
research will involve seeing if lifestyle physical activity can
cause a "chronic effect," where such activity over time can result
in a drop in blood pressure that lasts longer.
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Yard
work, housecleaning