Adnkronos (Adnkronos) –
To lower blood pressure, simply sit. Without a chair. Eight minutes of exercise are enough to achieve positive results, with a progressive improvement in blood pressure readings. It's all thanks to the "wall sit," the exercise performed by sitting with your back against a wall but without supporting your legs and buttocks.
A new study published in the BMJ Open Sport and Exercise Medicine shows that just a few minutes, three times a week, are enough to make progress. Improvements persist even if, over time, the frequency of exercise is reduced to once or twice a week. "Wall sitting can reduce blood pressure more than other forms of exercise," says Professor Jonathan Wiles of Canterbury Christ Church University in England, coordinator of the new study.
The exercise takes just a few minutes and, at least initially, doesn't require any particular resistance: it's not essential to perform a squat with your knees at a 90-degree angle.
Simply bending your legs slightly is enough to get you started effectively. This way, Professor Wiles emphasizes, even people "who struggle to find the time and motivation to exercise" may be able to achieve and maintain the benefits.
For this workout, all you need is a wall. Find a free wall, lean against it, and move your feet forward until your thighs are parallel—or nearly so—to the ground.
"At first, many people" in the study "couldn't form a 90-degree angle," Wiles explains. This doesn't reduce the effectiveness of the activity that generates isometric contractions: the muscles generate force without lengthening or shortening.
Numerous past studies have highlighted the effectiveness of isometric exercises for short- and long-term blood pressure control. Isometric contractions compress the blood vessels within the muscles, temporarily reducing blood flow. When the contraction ceases, blood flow resumes, releasing biochemical substances that dilate the vessels and help them remain elastic and responsive. This activates a mechanism that helps keep blood pressure under control.
To achieve this goal with wall sits, the recipe is simple. Sit against a wall for two minutes, stand up, and sit on a real chair for two minutes. The sequence should be repeated a total of four times over a period of eight minutes of exercise. A similar protocol, performed three times a week, should produce significant reductions in systolic blood pressure (the highest reading in a blood pressure measurement, which indicates the pressure in the arteries during the heartbeat) and diastolic blood pressure (the lowest reading, which indicates the pressure during the relaxation phase of the heart).
Researchers led by Wiles selected 100 sedentary adults, many of whom had moderate to high blood pressure readings, a risk factor for future hypertension. Most subjects began performing wall sits three times a week. A control group did not perform any exercise. After a month, some subjects continued with three sessions per week, while others reduced the number over the following four weeks.
After the first four weeks, the blood pressure of all adults who had participated in the exercise was lower. In the control group, however, there was no change. After two months, those who continued to sit three times a week maintained or improved their values. Those who reduced the sessions showed less progress compared to their initial values and slightly higher than those achieved after the first month. Those who had stopped the routine entirely returned to the starting point.
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