Increasing 3,000 steps per day can reduce hypertension in sedentary older people: Study

A new study discovered that increasing exercise by 3,000 steps per day can significantly reduce high blood pressure in older persons, a new study published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease revealed. “We’ll all get high blood pressure if we live long enough, at least in this country,” Pescatello, one of the study authors said. “That’s how prevalent it is.”

The study is relevant because hypertension is a silent killer. An elevated blood pressure kills millions in a year. One of the most common complications that arises due to high blood pressure is cardiovascular disease which kills close to 18 million in a year worldwide. The study highlights one of the easiest exercises that has been found to have a tremendous impact on the overall health of individuals. Several studies have worked on the impact of walking on a daily basis.

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This study sought to determine if older adults with hypertension could receive these benefits by moderately increasing their daily walking, which is one of the easiest and most popular forms of physical activity for this population.

“It’s easy to do, they don’t need any equipment, they can do it anywhere at almost any time,” Lee said.

The study focused on a group of sedentary older adults between ages 68 and 78 who walked an average of about 4,000 steps per day before the study.

After consulting existing studies, Lee determined that 3,000 steps would be a reasonable goal. This would also put most participants at 7,000 daily steps, in line with the American College of Sports Medicine’s recommendation.

“3,000 steps is large enough but not too challenging to achieve for health benefits,” Lee said.

The team conducted the study during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant they had to do everything remotely.

The researchers sent participants a kit with pedometers, blood pressure monitors, and step diaries for participants to log how much they were walking each day. On average, participants’ systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased by an average of seven and four points, respectively, after the intervention.

“It’s exciting that a simple lifestyle intervention can be just as effective as structured exercise and some medications,” Elizabeth C. Lefferts, the lead author of the study said.

The findings suggest that the 7,000-step regimen the participants in the study achieved is on par with reductions seen with anti-hypertensive medications. Eight of the 21 participants were already on anti-hypertensive medications. Those participants still saw improvements in systolic blood pressure from increasing their daily activity.

“In a previous study, we found that when exercise is combined with medication, exercise bolsters the effects of blood pressure medication alone,” Pescatello said. “It just speaks to the value of exercise as anti-hypertensive therapy. It’s not to negate the effects of medication at all, but it’s part of the treatment arsenal.”

The researchers found that walking speed and walking in continuous bouts did not matter as much as simply increasing total steps.

“We saw that the volume of physical activity is what’s really important here, not the intensity,” Pescatello said.

“Using the volume as a target, whatever fits in and whatever works convey health benefits.”

"The results of this pilot e-health lifestyle walking intervention suggest that an extra 3000 steps/day on at least 5 days/week reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure by 7 and 4 mm Hg, respectively, in sedentary older adults with hypertension. These results could have important implications for healthcare professionals looking for a simple yet effective strategy that can be delivered broadly via e-health technology to reduce blood pressure; however, future large-scale and sufficiently powered randomized, controlled trials are warranted and necessary to verify these results," the researchers have said.