Exercise and Blood Pressure

Regular physical exercise can be as effective as medication in treating moderately high blood pressure, a new study has found.

The findings, being reported today in The Journal of the American Medical Association, show that previously sedentary people can safely bring moderately high blood pressure under control without drugs if they are willing to exercise vigorously for 50 minutes three or four times a week.



As an added benefit, the 10-week exercise program significantly lowered total cholesterol levels while increasing the protective high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, which helps to cleanse the body of unwanted cholesterol. On the other hand, one of the drugs studied, propranolol, lowered the high-density lipoproteins, wiping out the benefit from the exercise program.

The research team, headed by Dr. Michael H. Kelemen, a cardiologist with the Columbia Plan, a group health practice, in Columbia, Md., also studied the effects of an exercise method that uses a series of weight machines. In contrast to a regimen of lifting barbell-type free weights, this method, circuit weight training, uses machines that place moderate loads on the muscles and call for frequent repetitions.

The findings showed that, contrary to widespread concern, circuit weight training had no harmful effects on blood pressure in the 52 men who participated in the study.

Weights and Aerobic Activities

In addition to weight training, the men did aerobic activities like walking, jogging or cycling in each exercise session.

The blood pressure reductions occurred even though the participants lost little or no weight and were told to continue their normal diets.

In an interview yesterday, Dr. Kelemen said the findings did not mean there is no place for medications that lower blood pressure.

"We tested only those with moderate hypertension, who represent the vast majority of hypertensives," he said, "and the program was only 10 weeks long. A lot of people find it easier to take medication on a long-term basis than to get to a health club regularly."

Dr. Kelemen also noted that the participants were well motivated, having come from an upwardly mobile business and professional community.

He said circuit weight training was included in the program not because it had any special health benefits but because "people like to do it and there were concerns about its safety for people with cardiovascular problems." Another reason for including it, Dr. Kelemen said, was that "it exercises the upper body as well as the lower body," unlike jogging and cycling.

Some 58 million Americans have hypertension, and about 20 million, most of whom have mild hypertension, take drugs to lower their blood pressure. The average patient spends a dollar a day on this medication, which must be taken for life and which sometimes causes unpleasant side effects, including impotence.