Researchers from the University of Iowa have found out exactly how many steps per day older people need to walk to reduce the risk of hypertension. The results of the study are published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease.

Twenty-one elderly people between the ages of 68 and 78 took part in the experiment. All of them had to wear a pedometer, regularly measure their blood pressure using a tonometer and record the number of steps they took every day.

It is noted that before the study, all these people passed on average about four thousand steps a day. Scientists decided to add another three thousand steps to the daily program of the subjects. In total, the participants performed seven thousand steps per day.

By the end of the experiment, it turned out that the systolic and diastolic blood pressure of the elderly people decreased by an average of seven and four points, respectively. The same level of pressure reduction is observed when taking antihypertensive drugs.

Scientists point out that the speed of walking or its continuity is not important. More important is the overall increase in the number of steps.