Stretches vs Walking- Stretching Helps to Control BP Than Walking!
Stretches Vs Walking. Walking gives you numerous health benefits but stretches help to control your BP. Nearly 70% of people brisk walk to lower their pressure but recent research says that stretching helps to lower your blood pressure than hours of walking. High blood pressure can lead to various heart diseases such as heart attack, heart failure, and even dementia. People should add stretches to their list to control blood pressure.
Nearly forty men and women aged 61 years participated in the walking program, in which one group did 30 minutes stretching five times a week and the other group went walking for the same amount of time. At the end of the program, the researchers found that the Walking program group lost more fats from their waist while the group assigned for stretching experienced a decrease in blood pressure.
Dr.Phil Chilibeck, Ph.D says” Everyone thinks that stretching is just about stretching your muscles”, but it is more than that. Stretching your muscles stretches your blood vessels and arteries which helps to feed into your muscles and it also improves the health of blood vessels, reduces the stiffness of your arteries, and decreases your blood flow. Overall it gives positive results on hypertension patients. Stretching is also a simple step to incorporate into one’s daily life.
Some Beginners Stretches
- Standing hip flexor stretch
- Seated head-toward-knee stretch
- Reclining figure 4 stretch
Tips for Safe Stretching
- Start gradually, stretch 10 minutes every day
- Warm-up before exercising
- Stretch only till you find mild discomfort
- Don’t hold your breath while stretching
- Avoid difficult movements
- Hold the stretch for 10-30 seconds and repeat.
Other Benefits of Stretching
- Improves your posture
- It can decrease your back pain
- It can decrease your muscle soreness
- It can calm your mind
- Increase blood flow to muscles
Dr. Phil Chilibeck says he can’t assure that stretching gives the prolonged effect because it takes many more years to investigate. Above all in the debate between stretching vs walking people should remember that stretching is not a substitute for walking, riding a bike or other aerobic exercises because each has its own benefits.
