If you have high blood pressure, your doctor will likely suggest going for walks to bring it down. But there may be a better option – and something you can do just as easily. Stretching.

A new finding shows that those with hypertension show be stretching more. High blood pressure is a leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease and is among the top preventable risk factors affecting your lifespan. And most of us think that stretching is simply about your muscles, but stretching also stretches the blood vessels, including all your arteries.

Doing that will cause less resistance to blood flow and that will lower blood pressure.

Previous studies have shown that before, but this was the first time stretching head-to-head with walking to see which was more effective.

using two groups of adults – one group did a whole-body stretching routine for 30 minutes a day five days a week; the other group briskly walked for the same duration – and the group that stretched was found to have far lower blood pressure at the end of the 8 weeks.

But walking still does your body good – the walkers lost more body fat off their waists.

The doctors recommend for those walking to reduce blood pressure to continue to do so, but to add in stretching – it does not even have to be at the same time – the stretching can be done wherever you find the time, even when watching TV at night instead of just sitting on the couch.

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As the days are longer, we’re more active than ever. But to keep active and stay active, you want your heart to be healthy to keep up with everything that you’re doing. The American Heart Association has some tips on how to have a heart-healthy summer:

Stay Hydrated – water is best, but plenty of fluids before, during, and after any warm activities – you’ll want to avoid caffeine and alcoholic beverages that dehydrate.

Try to work out in the cooler parts of the day – early morning or early evening, to help prevent sunburn or sunstroke.

Make sure you wear lightweight clothing – and light colored too!

Summer is a great season to try new veggies – if you’re grilling, throw some mushrooms, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes on the skewer.

When you’re packing for a beach road trip, throw in a football, soccer ball, or a frisbee to give you the incentive to get moving when you’re enjoying the sand.

Create your own fruit pops – mash up fruits like peaches or watermelon into paper cups and freeze overnight – you’ll save on a lot of money and sugar!

Wear hats when in the sun, and make sure you’ve got at least SPF 15 on.

And if the heat gets to be too much, head indoors – the heat will break eventually, and you’ll be able to keep up a healthy, active summer!

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