Exercise Interventions Reduce Blood Pressure in Hypertension

HYPERTENSION management may benefit from breathing exercise and high-intensity bodyweight interval training (HIBIT), according to a randomised controlled trial that found significant reductions in systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure after 10 weeks of intervention. 

Adults with hypertension who participated in breathing exercise, HIBIT, or a combination of both achieved lower post-intervention blood pressure than those assigned to a non-exercise control group. 

Hypertension Trial Compares Three Exercise Strategies 

Researchers enrolled 96 adults with hypertension and randomly assigned them to one of four groups: control, breathing exercise, HIBIT, or combined exercise.  

Participants completed a 10-week intervention, with outcomes assessed at baseline and after the programme.  

Investigators evaluated quality of life, psychological distress, inflammatory biomarkers, blood pressure, cortisol levels, and resting heart rate. 

The primary intention-to-treat analysis included all 96 participants, while a per-protocol analysis of 87 participants served as a sensitivity analysis. 

The study identified significant group effects for C-reactive protein (CRP), systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure.  

However, no significant differences were observed for quality of life, psychological distress, cortisol, interleukin-6, or resting heart rate after adjustment for baseline values. 

Blood Pressure Improvements Observed Across Interventions 

All three active interventions resulted in lower blood pressure than the control group.  

Adjusted systolic blood pressure was lower in the breathing exercise group, HIBIT group, and combined exercise group compared with controls.  

Significant reductions were also reported for diastolic blood pressure. 

For systolic blood pressure, adjusted differences versus control were 18.15 mmHg for breathing, 13.59 mmHg for HIBIT, and 16.29 mmHg for combined exercise.  

Diastolic blood pressure differences versus control were 6.19 mmHg, 8.03 mmHg, and 6.72 mmHg, respectively. 

Combined Approach Shows No Added Advantage 

Although adjusted CRP levels were lower in the breathing exercise and combined exercise groups compared with controls, researchers cautioned that some biomarker findings were sensitive to statistical modelling approaches. 

Notably, the combined intervention did not outperform either breathing exercise or HIBIT alone for blood pressure or other assessed outcomes. 

The per-protocol analysis produced the same overall pattern of results, strengthening confidence in the blood pressure findings.  

No serious exercise-related injuries or cardiovascular events were reported during the study.  

The authors concluded that supervised breathing exercise and HIBIT may represent useful non-pharmacological options for patients with hypertension, while emphasising the need for larger and more diverse studies to confirm potential biomarker effects and assess longer-term outcomes.  

Reference 

Herawati I et al. Effects of high-intensity bodyweight interval training and breathing exercises on quality of life, psychological distress, inflammatory biomarkers, and blood pressure in adults with hypertension: a randomized controlled trial. Sci Rep. 2026;DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-71825-3.