Research Highlights Simple Lifestyle Habit That May Lower Blood Pressure After Menopause - Video

A new study from the University of California San Diego has found that simply standing up more frequently throughout the day could benefit heart health in postmenopausal women living with overweight or obesity. The findings, published in the journal Circulation, show that increased daily sit-to-stand movements were linked to measurable improvements in blood pressure, even without any change in vigorous physical activity.

The research is part of the Rise for Health Study, a randomized controlled trial aimed at understanding the physiological effects of reducing sedentary behavior. Postmenopausal women typically spend a significant portion of their day sitting, placing them at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and early death.

Researchers divided participants into three groups over a three-month period: a “sit less” group that was encouraged to reduce overall sitting time; a “sit-to-stand” group that was asked to rise from sitting more frequently; and a control group that received general health information but no behavioral intervention.

The “sit less” group reduced their sitting time by about 75 minutes per day and showed some improvements in blood pressure, although these changes were not statistically significant. The most notable results came from the “sit-to-stand” group, where women stood up an average of 25 extra times per day and reduced their diastolic blood pressure by 2.24 mmHg compared to the control group. While this figure falls slightly short of the 3–5 mmHg considered clinically meaningful, researchers note it is still a measurable improvement.

“Public health messaging urges us to sit less but doesn’t tell us the best ways to do that. Our findings suggest that while sitting less was helpful, interrupting sitting with brief standing breaks — even if you don't sit less — can support healthy blood pressure and improve health,” said first author Sheri Hartman, Ph.D., UC San Diego Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science professor.

Researchers plan to continue exploring these behaviors over a longer period and in a wider population group to evaluate long-term health effects.

Reference: Hartman, S. J., LaCroix, A. Z., Sears, D. D., Natarajan, L., Zablocki, R. W., Chen, R., ... & Rosenberg, D. E. (2025). Impacts of Reducing Sitting Time or Increasing Sit-to-Stand Transitions on Blood Pressure and Glucose Regulation in Postmenopausal Women: Three-Arm Randomized Controlled Trial. Circulation.