Half an hour of stretching a day is effective at reducing blood pressure

People with high blood pressure are better off having a stretch at home rather than going out for a walk if they want to lower their blood pressure, study finds.

University of Saskatchewan researchers had a group of 40 high blood pressure sufferers split into two groups - one did stretching and one did walking.

Half an hour a day of 'whole body' stretching exercises reduced all types of blood pressure by more than a brisk walk over the same amount of time, they found.

A combination of both would not necessarily reduce blood pressure by more than stretching exercises, though it would bring other general health benefits, they said.

The average age of people involved in the study was 61, it was designed to look at the impact of different exercise types on older sufferers of stage one hypertension.

For the study one group did half an hour a day of stretching for five days a week over an eight week period, while the other did the same amount of

' brisk' walking.

Before and after the study, Chilibeck's team measured participants' blood pressure while they were sitting, lying down, and over 24 hours using a portable monitor.

The results, published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, found stretching was better for reducing blood pressure - a leading risk factor for heart disease.

Walking, which many doctors recommend for patients, was not as effective at simply lowering blood pressure, however walkers lost more body fat than stretches.

Study author, professor Dr Phil Chilibeck, said everyone believes that stretching is just about stretching your muscles ahead of other activities.

'But when you stretch your muscles, you're also stretching all the blood vessels that feed into the muscle, including all the arteries,' he said.

'If you reduce the stiffness in your arteries, there's less resistance to blood flow.'

While previous studies have shown stretching can reduce blood pressure, this research is the first to pit walking against stretching in a head-to-head comparison in the same group of study participants.

People who are walking to reduce their high blood pressure should continue to do so, but also add in some stretching sessions, according to Chilibeck.