It’s a well known fact that lack of exercise has many adverse effects on health. In addition a new research has also indicated that it contributes a lot to hypertension. The severity of this situation is so grave that it has been found more dangerous than high sodium diet. We all know that people on high salt intake are more prone to high blood pressure. But, according to the latest research, their salt sensitivity gets lowered by their exercises and thus they enjoy their meal and health both.

Study On Lack Of Exercise And High Sodium Diet

A research on the effect of lack of exercise and their relation to high sodium diet was conducted by Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans. A group of people at Northern China who were not on hypertension medication were selected for this study. The group consisted of 1900 men and women with an average age of 38.   

In the study, the participants were given diet with a varying amount of sodium content. In the first week, everybody was given a meal with sodium content of 3000 mg daily. While in the second week, the sodium content in the diet was increased to 18,000 mg daily. Apart from this specified sodium intake, their blood pressure were closely monitored by measuring it nine times a week. In this study, the participants were also asked several questions to know about their exercise routine.

All the observations were compared to determine the relation between exercise regime, sodium diet, and systolic blood pressure. Participants who exhibited an increase in blood pressure by 5%, after taking high sodium diet were categorized as ‘highly salt sensitive’. Further, the result indicated that participants who had a good exercise routine and were very active had 38% less susceptibility to the salt induced high blood pressure. While the participants who were moderately active, had 17% less chances of high blood pressure as compared to salt sensitive people. In the next category were people who were least active and they had just 10% safeguard against high blood pressure due to sodium rich diet. In this way, it was concluded that lack of exercise contributes a lot in hypertension and it often proves to be more dangerous than high sodium intake.

This research has explicit evidence to support the relation between lack of exercise, sodium intake and high blood pressure but the researchers are in the view that more studies should be conducted so as to get further details of this fact.

Thus, this new finding becomes great news for salt lovers, but there is a word of caution for them. They should never forget that even active people were prone to hypertension and their risk was reduced just by 38%. So, both the lack of exercise and high sodium intake should be avoided to remain healthy.

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