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Workout and exercise does play a very crucial role in our day to day life. While we do tend to often restrict ourselves to the physical activities, this does have a very impactful role on our lives altogether. It is thus very important to ensure that you do indulge in at least a 5 minutes workout on a daily basis because the same has been found to be quite beneficial in boosting the brain function.
A new study (R) conducted by the researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder found that 5-minutes daily of Inspiratory Muscle Training helps in lowering the blood pressure, improves the vascular health, helps boost fitness and has an impact on the memory and brain function of an individual as well.
When the researchers were faced with the question of whether indulging in a 5-minute workout regime without lifting any additional weight or even jogging through a single step prove out to be a beneficial factor in helping prevent the risks of heart diseases, they found that the answer was YES.
Daniel Craighead, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Colorado Boulder Integrative Physiology department who is also the lead author of the study stated saying that IMST is basically nothing but the strength training for the muscles that you breathe in with. It is actually a form of exercise that you can easily do in your office or even at home without any kind of extra hassle whatsoever.
So far with the findings, the researchers have found it to be quite beneficial in lowering the blood pressure and even boosting the overall cognitive as well as the physical performance of an individual. This form of exercise does date back to the 1980s when it was first introduced to help the critically ill people to wean them off the ventilators.
IMST involves breathing in vigorously through a hand held device which is an inspiratory muscle trainer that helps provide resistance. In the initial days of the same, the patients who indulged in this did perform a 30-minute low resistance regimen which did help in boosting their overall lung capacity.
It was then in 2016 that the University of Arizona researchers published the results from a trial to see if the 30 inhalations per day with more restrictions and resistance will prove out to be of any kind of benefit to the people suffering from sleep apnea and have very weak breathing muscles altogether.
Following the conduction of the study, the researchers found that in addition to getting a more restful sleep, the participants also showed an unexpected side effect as well following the six weeks mark. Their systolic blood pressure was found to decrease by 12 millimeters of mercury. While comparing, it was found that the decrease was almost twice as much that can be yielded by the medications or even with the aerobic exercises.
Professor Doug Seals, director of CU Boulder’s Integrative Physiology of Aging Laboratory who is also the principal investigator of the study stated that’s when they did get intrigued with the process altogether. The systolic blood pressure of an individual is defined by the exerted pressure on the blood vessels when the heart beats. This does have the capability of leading to damage to the blood starved tissues in the body hence increasing the risks of heart attack, kidney failure and even an impact on the cognitive decline.
Prior studies have shown that 30 minutes of aerobic exercise on a daily basis does have the capability of improving the condition of hypertension but the fact is that only 5% of those meet the minimum of that. On the contrary, it has been found that 65% of the mid-life adults have high systolic blood pressure.
Seals stated saying that their primary goal is to develop time efficient as well as evidence based interventions that the mid-life adults will actually indulge in.
It was Craighead who did present the preliminary results this Sunday and Monday at Experimental Biology 2019.
With the completion of these tests done halfway through, the researchers have actually found significant drops in the blood pressure as well as improvement in the large artery function among the participants who did indulge in the IMST. Additionally, this was also proven to have amazing impacts in improving the cognitive abilities and the memory tests as well.
When the subjects were asked to exercise till exhaustion, they were found to effectively be able to stay on the treadmill longer and were able to keep their heart rate as well as oxygen consumption lower during the exercise that they indulged in.
These inspiratory muscle trainers are already being used by some of the cyclists and runners to gain a better competitive edge with their opponents. The only prospect of its impacts on the brain function is the fact that the findings are all preliminary and in order to gain better results, it is always best suggested to consult a doctor with the details of the IMST.
