A daily 30-minute walk could save your life

I like to use my platform to expose the lies and hypocrisy that threaten public health. And yes, Big Pharma and their bedfellows at the FDA keep me plenty busy on that front. But some days, I’m just a doctor who wants to share simple, life-saving tips that you can use every day.

And that’s exactly what I’ll be doing today. Because while I know I talk about exercise a lot, I won’t stop harassing you about it until everyone is exercising like they should be—especially when it makes saving your own life so easy.

Even short walks deliver big results

According to new research, middle-aged and older adults carrying extra pounds can lower their blood pressure by taking a brisk 30-minute walk every morning.

The study also showed that—for women at least—following up a morning walk with “mini-walks” throughout the day (defined as a few minutes of moving around every half hour) lowered average systolic blood pressure even more.

In other words, all you have to do to combat hypertension—and lower your risk of stroke and heart disease—is get up from your desk, couch, or car and walk around for three minutes out of each hour.

Three minutes. How simple is that?

In this study, mean systolic blood pressure was 125 mmHg, while mean diastolic pressure was 74 mmHg— neither of which are high numbers.

But nearly 40 percent of participants still reached the newly revised hypertension threshold of 130/80 mmHg. Which means they’d qualify for drug treatment by current standards…making the findings even more important.

More specifically, when subjects squeezed a 30-minute walk in before a day of sitting, their average eight-hour blood pressures dropped by 3.4 mmHg for systolic readings, and .08 mmHg, for diastolic readings.

But when they also broke up their sitting with “mini-walks” throughout the day, these declines jumped to 5.1 mmHg systole and 1.1 mmHg diastole. And while that may not seem like a lot to most people, this little bit goes a long way.

So easy, anyone can do it

To put this into perspective, lowering blood pressure by 10 mmHg (systolic) and 5 mmHg (diastolic) can slash your risk of death from heart disease and stroke by 22 percent and 41 percent, respectively.

Smaller declines still deliver life-saving benefits. And more importantly, they don’t require side-effect laden drug prescriptions to do so.

Granted, this study showed that the benefits of regular movement throughout the day were greater for women than men. But that doesn’t mean that men should remain sedentary.

As I’ve explained here before, “sitting disease” is a threat to everyone. And we’re all better off doing something—anything—else.

Besides, a brisk 30-minute morning walk benefited both women and men—plus, it’s easy to fit into your daily schedule. Which you should so. Not just to avoid unnecessary blood pressure medications, but because it could spare you a heart attack, too.

This really is some of the simplest advice I’ve ever offered. And it’s something anyone can do, regardless of income level or location—you can walk around your house, the yard, to the corner and back, around your office or through the mall.

The important part is simply that you walk every day, as though your life depends on it. Because, in fact, it does.

P.S. In addition to adding a daily walk to your wellness regimen, I’ve outlined many other simple lifestyle, dietary, and supplement recommendations for cardiovascular health in my Ultimate Heart-Protection Protocol. This unique online learning tool is an all-natural plan to prevent and reverse America’s biggest killers—high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke. Click here to learn more, or to sign up today.

Source:

“A Morning Walk, Less Sitting Can Lower Blood Pressure for Hours.” Medscape Medical News, 02/28/2019. (medscape.com/viewarticle/909675)