Exercise averts high blood pressure

Regular exercise helps to keep teenagers' blood pressure in check, regardless of their body weight. Declining exercise levels over time can lead to small increases in blood pressure.

High blood pressure and other heart disease risk factors like type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol were once uncommon, or unheard of, in children and teenagers. But the rates of these conditions in teenagers have risen since the 1990s, in tandem with rising obesity rates.

To investigate if exercising helps teenagers prevent health compilations like high blood pressure etc, researches followed Canadian 1,293 boys and girls who were 12 to 13 years old at the start of the study. The teens reported their typical physical activity levels and had their body fat and blood pressure measured at the outset, and then periodically over five years. For each exercise assessment, the teenagers reported the number of times in the past week they had engaged in moderate to vigorous activities - like biking, walking or jogging - for at least 5 minutes.

It was found that the teens' blood pressure inched upward for each session of exercise they lost over time. The increase amounted to less than one point in systolic blood pressure - the first number in a blood pressure reading but the findings do suggest that sedentary lifestyles directly affect teenagers' blood pressure.

The above findings highlight the importance of following an active lifestyle even during adolescence to prevent health complications, high blood pressure in particular.