A half hour of morning exercise can help control blood pressure in overweight and obese people for the entire day, one study finds. And for women in particular, adding frequent short breaks from sitting through the day can offer additional benefit, the Australian researchers said.

The research involved 67 people between the ages of 55 and 80 who did three different laboratory sessions, in random order, separated by at least six days. Those sessions included: uninterrupted sitting for eight hours; one hour of sitting prior to 30 minutes of walking on a treadmill at a moderate pace, followed by 6.5 hours of prolonged sitting; and one hour of sitting prior to 30 minutes on the treadmill, followed by sitting that was interrupted every 30 minutes with three minutes of light[1]intensity walking for 6.5 hours.

Average systolic (top number) and diastolic (lower number) blood pressure was reduced among both men and women who took part in morning exercise, compared to when they did not exercise.

And there was an additional benefit — a significant reduction in average systolic blood pressure — among women when they combined morning exercise with breaks from sitting throughout the day.