26 June 2024 , 12:09
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If you suffer with high blood pressure, there is a quick and easy exercise you can do that could help lower your reading. According to health expert, Dr Andy Galpin, who appeared on a recent episode of the ZOE Health Podcast show, the exercise only involves your hands.
Dr Andy Galpin, PhD, is a professor of kinesiology at California State University. He is also the founder of Vitality Blueprint and a BioMolecular athlete.
During the episode, podcast host Jonathan Wolf asked Dr Galpin about a simple new habit that could reduce high blood pressure. The expert explained it is all to do with the strength of your grip.
"You've got a number of studies that have specifically looked at the impact of grip strength training," he said. "There's no warm-up required, you don't have to change - you just squeeze something as hard as possible."
He said handgrip dynamometers are the best tools to use when doing this exercise. You can usually buy one off Amazon for around £25.
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High blood pressure increases your risk of heart disease, heart attacks, strokes and heart failure. As well as kidney disease and vascular dementia.
Dr Galpin went on: "So no cardio [needed]. You squeeze and you hold these things, for six to eight seconds, maybe a little bit longer per contraction. Squeeze as hard as you can. Do eight to 12 or so repetitions of that a couple days a week."
People who have high blood pressure and have spent several weeks practicing their grip strength daily have gone on to lower their readings, according to various studies. The health expert added: "Statistically, [there have been] significant reductions in resting blood pressure in people that are hypertensive - people who have chronic high blood pressure."
Going into detail on why this exercise can lower your blood pressure, Dr Galpin said it is because your body responds to the challenge by making your blood vessels 'more pliable'.
Handgrip strength test can help lower your pressure"Grip strength training alone is an isometric contraction... What that's doing is, because the muscles are contracting, you're kind of squeezing all the muscles at the same time, which mean blood can't go anywhere.
"So it kind of gets stuck. In the short term your blood pressure shoots through the roof. Imagine you're trying to circulate blood throughout your body and when it's coming out of your heart it's getting squeezed down by all the muscles, so it can't go anywhere.
"The pressure in the heart gets really, really, really high as all the blood gets backed up. But, it's pumping, it's trying to get it out of there, so the pressure gets super high in response to that.
"Your body then will effectively say, 'hey, we're having this consistent challenge, let's make the vessels more pliable, more elastic, more plastic, open them up more'. By doing that, the blood pressure, at rest, goes down."