The Effect of Walking on Blood Pressure Essay -- Health, Diseases

The Effect of Walking on Blood Pressure Walking is one of the oldest means of transport known to mankind as well as a more physical activity undertaken by the majority of people in their lives. Walking has become an interest field for researchers, where there is evidence to show how walking can help in the prevention and treatment of many chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, renal diseases, hypertension, breast cancer, colon cancer, depression, stress and obesity. It has also become a major recommendation of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the Center of Disease Control (CDC). It is suggested that brisk walking for 30 minutes, 5 days a week, at 3-4 miles per hour for adults is a form of moderate intensity physical activity which can prove effective as a useful prevention and treatment model (Lee and Buchner, 2008). Many studies have provided evidence that walking is an effective approach for decreasing blood pressure in both hypertensive and normotensive, and that there is an inverse relation between them (Kelley et al, 2001). A recent systematic review, which involved 27 randomized controlled trials, showed a reduction in either systolic/diastolic blood pressure, or both, in response to a walking programme. This reduction was significantly statistically shown in 9 trials. Of these 9 trials, three studies reported that the decrease was significant for both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, four showed a significant decrease only in systolic blood pressure, while two studies found a significant reduction in diastolic blood pressure. The mean difference between walking groups and control groups was found to range from -5.2 to -11 mmHg for systolic blood pressure, while for diastolic ... ...s too long, participants may be unwilling to follow or complete it. Thus, it has been found that a walking programme which is more than 12 months long is less effective than a 6 month programme, and that the explanation for this is due to a decrease in the participants’ adherence to the programme (see Lee et al, 2010). It seems that the longer the programme, the less likely it is that the individual will keep to it. It was found (by Lee et al, 2010) that the way in which the time spent walking each day was divided up made no significant difference in terms of reduction of blood pressure response. The study measured the effect of walking on blood pressure by dividing the daily session of walking into three short bouts of 10 minutes; and it was found that this had the same effect on blood pressure as a continuous uninterrupted daily walking session of 30 minutes.