1) The exercise is called High-Resistance Inspiratory Muscle Strength Training (IMST) and doing it 5 minutes a day, six days a week can lower your blood pressure as much as exercise or drugs. You inhale through a device that provide resistance to your inhalation. It’s like sucking through a tube that sucks back.
2) Participants saw their systolic blood pressure decrease on average about 9 points. The effect is comparable to walking 30 minutes a day for five days a week, or taking blood pressure-lowering medication.
3) Other beneficial results of the exercise include improved artery function, increase in levels of nitric oxide (a key component that prevents plaque build-up in arteries). Also markers of inflammation and oxidative stress were also reduced.
Journal source: Journal of the American Heart Association
Time-Efficient Inspiratory Muscle Strength Training Lowers Blood Pressure and Improves Endothelial Function, NO Bioavailability, and Oxidative Stress in Midlife/Older Adults With Above‐Normal Blood Pressure
29 June 2021