It’s definitely not on the top of your health checklist, nor is there anything sexy about it, but once you hit your 30s, blood pressure is something you have to start thinking about.
And if you’re not keen on ditching the junk food (although we highly recommend a well-balanced diet), we might have some good news for you.
New research published in the journal Hypertension has found that just 30 minutes of exercise in the morning can help reduce blood pressure.
“For both men and women, the magnitude of reduction in average systolic blood pressure following exercise and breaks in sitting, approached what might be expected from antihypertensive medication in this population to reduce the risk of death from heart disease and stroke,” says lead study author Michael Wheeler, in a released statement.
“This reduction was greater for women.”
According to the results, exercising first thing in the morning reduced blood pressure by 3 per cent while adding short walks throughout the day saw an extra 1.5 per cent drop.