Casey A. Cass/University of Colorado
Strength training is a well-established way to boost the capabilities of the body s many muscle groups, and the same may well be true of those that facilitate breathing. A new study has provided the strongest evidence yet that a daily practice designed to strengthen breathing muscles can lower blood pressure and improve vascular health, just as effectively or perhaps even more so than aerobic exercise.
The research was carried out at the University of Colorado (UC) Boulder and centers on a type of breathing exercise known as High-Resistance Inspiratory Muscle Strength Training (IMST). This first emerged in the 1980s as a therapy for critically ill patients with respiratory disease, and tasks subjects with inhaling harshly through a handheld device that offers resistance by sucking air in the opposite direction.
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