Five minutes of extra exercise every day can lower blood pressure.
Five minutes of exercise can make all the difference to someone's health
A recent study has revealed that simple physical tasks such as climbing the stairs or cycling to the shops can lead to significant health improvements.
Boffins at University College London and the University of Sydney analysed the physical activity of more than 15,000 people for 24 hours to gain a better understanding of the relationship between movement and blood pressure.
The experts concluded that additional exercise that raises the heart rate simultaneously decreases systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure and could be pivotal in combating one of the world's biggest causes of premature death.
Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis, joint senior author of the study at the University of Sydney, said: "High blood pressure is one of the biggest health issues globally, but there may be relatively accessible ways to tackle the problem in addition to medication.
"The finding that doing as little as five extra minutes of exercise or vigorous incidental activities a day could be associated with measurably lower blood pressure readings emphasises how powerful short bouts of higher intensity movement could be for blood pressure management."