News - Hypertension Week of Jan. 18, 2004/ Vol. 3 No. 03

Study: Long-Term Exercise Controls Blood Pressure As Well as Drugs

Long-term exercise can control blood pressure as well as drugs, according to a study reported in the January issue of the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

Exercise has been well documented to exert a beneficial effect on cardiovascular health, but this is the first study to determine the long-term effect of regular training as a monotherapy on both blood pressure at rest and during exercise.

Researchers from Humboldt-University in Berlin studied 10 subjects with hypertension and an average age of 43 years to determine their blood pressure response to long-term aerobic training.

Blood pressure measurements were obtained at rest and during exercise. Patients were instructed to exercise 120 minutes a week.

After 18 months of training, the blood pressure of the participants dropped at rest from 139 to 133 mm Hg on average and during exercise from 184 to 172 mm Hg on average.

After three years of training, the blood pressure of the participants continued to decrease significantly to an average of 130 mm Hg at rest and an average of 167 mm Hg during exercise. No significant changes in body weight were documented during the training period.

"Long-term aerobic exercise is associated with a decrease in blood pressure at rest and during exercise, which is comparable to that of drug therapies," concluded the researchers.

Other sources: Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2004 Jan; 36(1): 4-8