*Experts say the five-minute breathing exercise known as High-Resistance Inspiratory Muscle Strength Training technique could be an easy way for consumers to boost their heart health

Isola Moses | 绿帽献妻

Researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder in the United States (US) in a fresh study explored a new technique that may help consumers to lower their Blood Pressure (BP).

The study findings revealed that a five-minute breathing exercise known as High-Resistance Inspiratory Muscle Strength Training (IMST), which requires consumers to breathe through a device that provides resistance, can lower blood pressure and benefit heart health.

Researcher Daniel Craighead said: 鈥淭here are a lot of lifestyle strategies that we know can help maintain cardiovascular health as they age.

鈥淏ut the reality is, they take a lot of time and effort and can be expensive and hard for some people to access. IMST can be done in five minutes in your own home while you watch TV.鈥�

On how blood pressure benefits for the study, the researchers had 36 adults with high systolic blood pressure, between ages 50 and 79 involved in the study.

Over the course of six weeks, half of the group performed IMST regularly and the other half used a placebo breathing device.

The researchers monitored the participants鈥� blood pressure to track any changes.

The team learned that using the IMST device six days a week for 30 inhalations per day was associated with lower systolic blood pressure readings — even six weeks after the participants stopped using it.

Ultimately, the systolic reading dropped by as much as 9 points, which the researchers explained can be significant in terms of consumers鈥� long-term health.

The findings were also positive because those who used the IMST device were consistent with the treatments 95% of the time.

This is important because staying on top of the breathing exercise can yield the best health outcomes for consumers.

Doug Seals, one of the researchers, stated: 鈥淲e have identified a novel form of therapy that lowers blood pressure without giving people pharmacological compounds and with much higher adherence than aerobic exercise.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 noteworthy.鈥�

The researchers believe that IMST can help relax the blood vessels, which is what ultimately helps lower blood pressure. Moving forward, the team hopes to make IMST devices more widely available to consumers.

鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to do, it doesn鈥檛 take long, and we think it has a lot of potential to help a lot of people,鈥� said Craighead.

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