Does walking lower blood pressure?
The short answer
Yes. A Cochrane review of 73 trials (2021) found that walking lowered systolic blood pressure, the top number, by about 4 mmHg on average, and rated that moderate-certainty evidence. The bottom number, diastolic pressure, fell by about 2 mmHg. The walking in those trials was nothing extreme: on average about 150 minutes a week at a moderate pace, for about 15 weeks.
What the Cochrane review found
The review pulled together 73 randomised trials with 5,763 participants in 22 countries, aged from 16 to 84. Most of the walking programs were done at home or in the community, averaged 153 minutes of walking a week, and lasted 15 weeks on average. The results:
| Measure | Average change with walking | How sure the review is |
|---|---|---|
| Systolic blood pressure (top) | about 4.1 mmHg lower | Moderate |
| Diastolic blood pressure (bottom) | about 1.8 mmHg lower | Low |
| Resting heart rate | about 2.8 beats a minute lower | Low |
The drop in systolic pressure showed up across ages: about 4.4 mmHg in people 40 and under, 3.8 in people 41 to 60, and 4.3 in people over 60. The review notes that many of the trials had a risk of bias, which is why the certainty is rated moderate or low rather than high.
A second review agrees
A separate meta-analysis of walking trials (Murtagh and colleagues, 2015) found a very similar effect: about 3.6 mmHg lower systolic and 1.5 mmHg lower diastolic pressure, along with better aerobic fitness, a smaller waist and a little less weight.
Is 4 mmHg a lot?
It is modest for one person, and it comes from walking alone. Blood pressure is shaped by many things at once, and walking is one of the few that cost nothing and have other benefits too. If you have high blood pressure or take medication for it, walking is something to add with your doctor, not a replacement for treatment.
How much walking was it?
About 150 minutes a week, mostly at a moderate pace, which is a brisk walk where you can still talk but not sing. That is the same weekly amount public health guidelines recommend for adults in general, about 30 minutes on five days. What is brisk walking? shows how to tell your pace.
Walking every week, not just this week
The trials ran for months, and the effect depends on keeping the walking going. reTrek turns your daily steps into distance along a real route, with a short film about the place waiting at each milestone and your progress on the map every evening, so the walks you need every week have somewhere to go. Everest Base Camp is free. Start walking it.