A new study has found that just five minutes of exercise a day can help reduce blood pressure and protect against cardiovascular problems.
Experts say that even small lifestyle changes, such as jogging for five minutes instead of watching TV for five minutes, are enough to improve cardiovascular health.
Research results show that activities such as dancing, running or cleaning have great benefits in themselves.
In the study, researchers from University College London and the University of Sydney studied 14,761 people. The men wore activity trackers to examine the relationship between daily activity and blood pressure.
In a 24-hour period, people spent an average of about seven hours sleeping, with ten hours spent engaging in lazy behaviors such as sitting. They spent three hours standing, one hour walking at a gentle pace and one bell at a brisk pace, and 16 minutes doing exercise that got their heart rate up.
The study found that five minutes of extra heart-rate-increasing exercise, such as climbing stairs, running or cycling, lowered systolic blood pressure (the top reading) by 0.68 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure (the bottom reading) by 0.54 mmHg. Seen less till Hg.
