Posted by Hugh on April 24, 2021, at 11:02:54
In reply to Relaxed muscles= relaxed mind?, posted by Lamdage22 on April 21, 2021, at 10:54:57
"Everyone thinks that stretching is just about stretching your muscles," said USask kinesiology professor Dr. Phil Chilibeck (PhD), a co-author of the study. "But when you stretch your muscles, you're also stretching all the blood vessels that feed into the muscle, including all the arteries.
"If you reduce the stiffness in your arteries, there's less resistance to blood flow," he said, noting that resistance to blood flow increases blood pressure.While previous studies have shown stretching can reduce blood pressure, the USask research is the first to pit walking against stretching in a head-to-head comparison in the same group of study participants.
Chilibeck and colleagues randomly assigned 40 older men and women (mean age 61) to two groups for the eight-week study period. One did a whole-body stretching routine for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, and the other group walked briskly for the same amount of time and frequency. All participants had elevated blood pressure, or Stage 1 hypertension, at the start of the study.
Before and after the study, Chilibeck and colleagues measured participants' blood pressure while they were sitting, lying down, and over 24 hours using a portable monitor--widely considered the gold standard for accurate blood pressure measurement. Stretching resulted in bigger reductions in blood pressure across all three types of measurement.
Complete article:
poster:Hugh
thread:1114680
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20190907/msgs/1114742.html