Exercise as ‘good as pills’ for high blood pressure

EXERCISING regularly, keeping weight down, drinking in moderation and eating plenty of vegetables can cut the chances of developing high blood pressure by two thirds, say researchers.

The impact of these measures was much bigger than expected and in some cases, as effective as prescribing drugs in treatment, a study found.

Just walking to work and restricting alcohol to two drinks a day can ‘reduce the risk markedly’, according to the study of more than 20,000 people. About half of Irish adults over 50 years of age have high blood pressure.

People with hypertension – the medical term for high blood pressure – are already routinely advised to make the lifestyle changes highlighted in the study but the effect far surpassed expectations.

The Finnish study followed 9,637 men and 11,430 women aged 25 to 74 who did not have hypertension.

Their adherence to healthy lifestyle factors was recorded, which included alcohol consumption of less than 50g per week (roughly six units), exercising at least three times per week, along with daily consumption of vegetables and maintaining a normal weight.

During a follow-up period of around 16 years, 709 of the men and 890 of the women developed hypertension. Pekka Jousilahti, of Finland’s National Institute for Health and Welfare, presented the findings yesterday at the European Cardiology Congress in Munich.

He said: ‘The risk of hypertension was only one third among those having all four healthy lifestyle factors compared with those having none.

‘Even having one to three healthy lifestyle factors reduced the risk of hypertension remarkably. For example, having two healthy lifestyle factors reduced the risk of hypertension by nearly 50 per cent in men and by more than 30 per cent in women. Four modifiable lifestyle factors – alcohol consumption, physical activity, consumption of vegetables and keeping normal weight – have a remarkable effect on the development of hypertension.’

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