Lower Your Blood Pressure With Exercise
If you get the verdict from your doctor that you have high blood pressure, it’s not too late to take action.
While you should always follow your doctor’s orders and make sure he okays a program of exercise, you might be able to avoid taking blood pressure medication for the rest of your life. You can lower your blood pressure with exercise and a healthy diet. It takes time, so don’t get rid of your medication right away and never without getting the blessing of your health care provider.
Exercise makes your heart stronger.
High blood pressure comes from the pressure on the arteries. If you’re heart is weak, it has to work harder, increasing the pressure. When you workout regularly, that builds a stronger heart that doesn’t have to pump with as much effort, relieving the extra exertion on your arteries and decreasing your blood pressure at the same time.
Exercise helps you lose weight.
Obesity can make your blood pressure climb. Not only does it affect you while you’re awake, it can cause sleep apnea, which also increases your blood pressure. Exercise helps you lose weight, but you need to have a healthy diet, too. Just losing 2.2 pounds can lower the mercury one millimeter, so you can imagine how much you’ll improve your blood pressure if you have even more weight to lose and accomplish your goals.
Reducing stress can lower your blood pressure.
Stress is a killer and it can be one of the causes for high blood pressure. In fact, you can almost feel your blood pressure climb when you’re in a stressful situation. You can get relief from working out in the gym. Exercising hard can burn off the hormones of stress and replace them with ones that make you feel good. You’ll lower your blood pressure, while you burn off the stressors of the day.
- The changes to your blood pressure don’t occur overnight. It takes between one to three months to see any difference. Even then, the problem will return if you quit working out.
- Exercise can help reduce inches around the waist, which is visceral fat, the most dangerous type of fat that affects all your organs and can increase blood pressure.
- The food you eat can raise or lower your blood pressure. Foods high in sodium can cause your blood pressure to rise, while food high in potassium can help you reduce the effect of sodium on your blood pressure. Eat more whole foods and eliminate processed foods that often have a high sodium content.
- If you smoke, quit. When you workout regularly, it can help you through the rough parts of quitting, but even then, it will be tough…but worth it!
