If disease prevention or treatment effects can be seen through lifestyle improvement, it is an ideal response method for patients because it is less dangerous and has no side effects than drugs or surgery.
Hypertension causes various cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, but it is called the ‘silent killer’ because it usually has no symptoms. It is one of the most common diseases in Korean adults, with a prevalence of over 30%.
The lifestyle that experts recommend for managing high blood pressure, which is common among adults, is to do aerobic exercise like walking regularly. In fact, if you measure your blood pressure with a sphygmomanometer after exercising at a fitness club, you can see that the readings go down significantly. However, recently, researchers at the University of Christchurch, Canterbury, UK , published a study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that isometric
exercises, such as planks and squats, are more effective in lowering blood pressure than aerobic exercise. announced. The researchers collected results from 270 clinical trial studies from 1990 to 2023 that looked at the effects of continuous exercise for two weeks or longer on blood pressure. Then , the exercise effect was analyzed by dividing the exercise type into aerobic exercise, dynamic muscle strength exercise, aerobic-dynamic strength exercise combination, high-intensity interval exercise ( HIIT ), and isometric exercise (static strength exercise).
As a result, all exercises had an effect of lowering blood pressure, but isometric exercise had the greatest effect. Isometric exercise lowered systolic and diastolic blood pressure by 8.24 mmHg and 4 mmHg, respectively, after exercise.
Then, the combination of aerobic exercise and dynamic strength exercise (6.04/2.54 mmHg), dynamic strength exercise (4.55/3.04 mmHg), aerobic exercise (4.49/2.53 mmHg), and high-intensity interval exercise (4.08/2.50 mmHg) showed the highest blood pressure reduction effect in that order. It was great. The effect of isometric exercise was almost twice that of aerobic exercise.
The research team additionally compared and analyzed the effects of individual exercises.
During the isometric exercise, the researchers tightened grip machines that required strong hands, lifted their legs on a leg extension machine, and squatted while attaching their bodies to the wall to endure ‘wall squats’ or ‘ wall – sits ‘ . As a result of comparing the eggplant exercises, it was found that the ‘wall squat’ had the best effect. Among the aerobic exercises, running was most effective in lowering blood pressure.
Dr. Jamie Edwards, who led the research, told the ‘New York Times’, “The ‘wall squat’, which does not require a separate exercise machine, is the easiest exercise to do.” is high,” he said.
How to do wall squat exercise?
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, your back against the wall, your knees bent at a 90-degree angle, and hold the position for a set amount of time.
Dr. Edwards recommended ‘Wall Squat’ exercise regularly, 3 times a week, 4 sets per day with ‘2 minutes of exercise – 2 minutes of rest’ . Be careful not to hold your breath during the exercise.
Dr. Jim Wiles, a member of the research team, emphasized, “As the number of repetitions increases, the안전놀이터 exercise will feel more difficult, but you should keep the same height for all four sets.”
He added, “In the first set, the exercise intensity feels like 4 steps out of 10, and in the last set, it rises to about 8 steps, and you should feel somewhat tired by the end.”
Researchers have not been able to determine why isometric exercise is the most effective in managing high blood pressure.
Dr. Edwards estimated that when force is applied to a muscle without moving, local blood vessels around the muscle are tightened, and when the force is released, blood flow increases dramatically. Vasodilation is a very important change in high blood pressure because the arteries do not dilate properly, reducing the amount that can supply oxygen-rich blood.
However, the researchers emphasized that the study does not mean that you should do wall squats instead of running. This means that isometric exercise complements, not replaces, aerobic exercise or other strength training.
He also recommended that if you have an underlying disease, consult a doctor to see if isometric exercise is not burdensome to your body.
*Thesis information
http :// dx.doi.org /10.1136/ bjsports-2022-106503
Exercise training and resting blood pressure : a large-scale pairwise and network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials .