Study: Exercise helps blood pressure

In a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, endurance exercise was found to be as effective as a drug (diuretic) in mild cases of hypertension in older men and women:

The findings of this study suggest that a program of mild-to-moderate intensity exercise training can result in partial regression of increased LV [left ventricle] relative wall thickness and LVH [Left ventricular hypertrophy, or "enlarged heart"] that is similar to the effect induced by a thiazide diuretic.

Left ventricle relative wall thickness and LVH, or enlarged heart, are measured because they are good predictors of cardiac risk. That these factors improve with endurance exercise is a good sign of exercise's effectiveness in improving cardiovascular health.

Although hydrochlorothiazide is considerably more effective in reducing systolic blood pressure than exercise, metabolic adaptations that occur only with exercise training can provide significant additional clinical benefits that are not attainable with a thiazide diuretic.

Therefore, endurance exercise training appears to be a suitable treatment strategy in some older adults with mild hypertension because despite a smaller decrease in blood pressure, it can induce a comparable regression of cardiac mass with improvements in insulin resistance and aerobic capacity and because aggressive reduction of blood pressure by antihypertensive medications may not necessarily confer a greater protection against the risk of death in hypertensive elderly patients.