Isometric Wall Sit May Reduce High Blood Pressure

Hypertension or high blood pressure is a problem some in our group are dealing with.

Here's the shocking statistic:  a CDC study reported that 71.8% of men aged 65-74 and 83.2% of men aged 75 and older have hypertension.

Leaving aside the troubling question as to the cause of this epidemic, let me ask you this. Are your prescription medications entirely removing your symptoms, with no side effects at all?  If so, great!

But here's a supplemental way to approach the problem that costs you nothing and has no side effects. It's called isometric exercise, which is the contraction of a muscle or muscle group without any movement of the joint.

A recent study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that isometric exercises, like wall sits (aka wall squats), can help reduce blood pressure even more effectively than other forms of exercise, including aerobic activity, weight training or high-intensity interval workouts.

A number of studies have demonstrated that isometric exercise training (IET), including wall squats, can lead to significant reductions in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Blood Pressure Reduction: Isometric wall squat exercises have been shown to significantly reduce resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Studies report reductions in systolic blood pressure by approximately 8.5 mmHg and diastolic by 7.3 mmHg after long-term training [1] [2] [3]. Short-term interventions also show reductions, with systolic blood pressure decreasing by about 13 mmHg in hypertensive individuals [4].

Mechanisms of Action: The reduction in blood pressure is associated with improved cardiac autonomic modulation and decreased total peripheral resistance. These exercises enhance parasympathetic activity and reduce sympathetic activity, contributing to lower blood pressure [5] [6].

You Can Do this at Home! Home-based isometric wall squat programs are effective and feasible, providing a low-resource method to manage blood pressure. These programs can be self-prescribed using perceived exertion, making them accessible without the need for healthcare professional supervision [7] [8].

Long-Term Benefits: Sustained isometric exercise over a year can maintain blood pressure reductions, highlighting the importance of continued exercise for long-term benefits [1].

In summary, isometric wall sit exercises are a practical and effective method for reducing high blood pressure, with both short-term and long-term benefits. They improve cardiovascular health by enhancing autonomic function and reducing peripheral resistance, making them a valuable tool in hypertension management.

Plus, doing isometrics like wall sits increase your strength, which is a preventative for sarcopenia and risk of falls. 

You could start with a wall sit of 30 seconds per day, if you can. You can then gradually increase the time of each sit as you gain strength up to two minutes per session.

References

1. O’Driscoll, J., Edwards, J., Coleman, D., Taylor, K., Sharma, R., & Wiles, J. One year of isometric exercise training for blood pressure management in men: a prospective randomized controlled study. Journal of Hypertension. 2022; 40.

2. Decaux, A., Edwards, J., Swift, H., Hurst, P., Hopkins, J., Wiles, J., & O’Driscoll, J. Blood pressure and cardiac autonomic adaptations to isometric exercise training: A randomized sham‐controlled study. Physiological Reports. 2022; 10.

3. Edwards, J., Deenmamode, A., Griffiths, M., Arnold, O., Cooper, N., Wiles, J., & O’Driscoll, J. Exercise training and resting blood pressure: a large-scale pairwise and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2023; 57.

4. Peters, P., Alessio, H., Hagerman, A., Ashton, T., Nagy, S., & Wiley, R. Short-term isometric exercise reduces systolic blood pressure in hypertensive adults: possible role of reactive oxygen species.. International journal of cardiology. 2006; 110 2.

5. O’Driscoll, J., Boucher, C., Vilda, M., Taylor, K., & Wiles, J. Continuous cardiac autonomic and haemodynamic responses to isometric exercise in females. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2020; 121.

6. Taylor, K., Wiles, J., Coleman, D., Sharma, R., & O’Driscoll, J. Continuous Cardiac Autonomic and Hemodynamic Responses to Isometric Exercise. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2017; 49.

7. Wiles, J., Goldring, N., & Coleman, D. Home-based isometric exercise training induced reductions resting blood pressure. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2016; 117.

8. Wiles, J., Rees-Roberts, M., Santer, E., Lea, J., O’Driscoll, J., Macinnes, D., Pellatt-Higgins, T., Mills, A., Gousia, K., West, A., Darby, J., Borthwick, R., Doulton, T., Swift, P., & Farmer, C. AN ALTERNATIVE PROTOCOL TO IMPROVE ACCESSIBILITY TO ISOMETRIC EXERCISE TRAINING TO TREAT UNCOMPLICATED HYPERTENSION. Journal of Hypertension. 2024; 42.

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