The improvement was minor, but researchers say it provides evidence that even small amounts of exercise can make a difference for our health. New research has found that adding just five minutes of exercise a day could help to slightly lower your blood pressure . The ideal blood pressure reading is 120/80 mm Hg, with the larger number measuring the pressure in the arteries as the heart pumps out blood during each beat, and the lower number measuring the pressure as the heart relaxes.
The study found that, on average, the top number dropped by 0.68 mm Hg and the bottom number by 0.54 mm Hg, with an additional five minutes of exercise a day.
“It’s a relatively small amount, but any difference helps,” Jo Blodgett, a senior research fellow at the University College London and first author of the study, said Thursday. “A lot of people are not doing enough exercise . Instead of thinking, ‘I need to go from zero to 60 minutes,’ you can start small and then when you get comfortable with that, you can increase the intensity over time.
” Fewer minutes of exercise can have an effect.
