How Can Physical Activity Lower Blood Pressure

People who engage in regular physical activity has been found to have lower risk of heart diseases, stroke, and chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have provided guidelines to help both children and adults improve their overall health through regular physical activity.

“For substantial health benefits, adults should do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) a week of moderate-intensity, or 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or an equivalence combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity. Aerobic activity should be performed in episodes of at least 10 minutes, and preferably, it should be spread throughout the week.”

Hypertension is directly proportional to age and so as you become old, your risk for high blood pressure also increases. Now maybe the right time to start incorporating exercise into your daily routine to help minimize your risk.

How is Blood Pressure Lowered by Physical Activity?

With regular physical movements, your heart becomes even more resilient to wear and tear. Heart muscles become stronger that it requires lesser effort to pump blood towards different parts of the body. The lesser the effort to pump blood and the minimal force on the arteries cause your blood pressure to lower.

What other benefits can I get aside from lowered blood pressure?

Doing regular activities or exercises can help you achieve your ideal weight and even maintain it as you grow older. Try exercising regularly to keep your blood pressure low and to see the significant impact to your overall health.

What other physical activities can I engage into?

Actually, there is no need to spend too much time keeping yourself fit in the gym if you don’t have enough time for it. Breaking the sessions apart into 3 for 10 minutes may be sufficient. Doing a variety of household chores like sweeping the floor, scrubbing the kitchen sink, doing the laundry, or washing the car already helps increase your heart rate and breathing patterns.

They say you can burn calories by watching TV but too much sedentary time is definitely not healthy. Try to get up at times or insert short intervals of taking time to drink water into your regular binge-watching. Try to watch what you eat too!

Can I still do an intense workout if I have a full-blown hypertension?

If you already have high blood pressure, then make sure you seek for doctor’s advice before doing high-intensity training like weight training or other vigorous activities. Although the Department of Health and Human Services suggests that there are more extensive health benefits for adults who engage in vigorous aerobic physical activity such as weight training.

A keynote when incorporating weight training into your fitness program is making sure you observe proper form and techniques to reduce the risk of injury. Also, try to maintain a normal breathing pattern and refrain from exerting too much effort as this is dangerous. If you ever feel tired, dizzy, or out of breath just stop as soon as possible.