Wall squats, planks exercises can help lower blood pressure

London Suffering from high blood pressure (BP)? Doing static isometric exercises -- the sort that involve engaging muscles without movement -- such as wall squats and planks are best for lowering blood pressure, finds a study.

The study, published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, showed that cardio (aerobic exercises); dynamic resistance training, such as squats, press-ups, and weights; high intensity interval training or HIIT (episodic short bouts of high intensity exercise interspersed with short periods of recovery at a lower intensity) are also effective.

But isometric exercises were able to reduce systolic (upper reading) BP by 98 per cent, compared to combined training (76 per cent), dynamic resistance training (46 per cent), aerobic exercise training (40.5 per cent) and HIIT (39 per cent).

Wall squats (isometric) and running (aerobic) was found to be the most effective individual exercises for reducing systolic BP (90.5 per cent) and diastolic (lower reading) BP (91 per cent), respectively, with isometric exercise, overall, the most effective for reducing both blood pressure elements. “Overall, isometric exercise training is the most effective mode in reducing both systolic and diastolic blood pressure,” said the researchers from Canterbury Christ Church University, UK.