Fix Your High blood pressure with Movement!

We should all know that exercise in general can help your heart. Information on this topic is abundant and everywhere. Most insurance companies will also give you better rates if you report that you exercise regularly, because the longer you live the longer you’re paying into your policy and they wont have to pay out. I digress.

The question is what method of exercise is the best for your heart and fighting hypertension. Lets start with the least effective , bodybuilding and powerlifting (the style in which they lift) does help with overall fitness but doesn’t impact hypertension as much as we’d expect.

Those lifting styles are comprised of short bursts of intensity followed by timed rest periods, so your heart rate and blood pressure spike and fall repeatedly. This does increase the strength of your heart, but not necessarily its capacity as rest when compared to cardio exercises, hence the name cardio.

There are many different styles of cardio workouts. Metcons, EMOMs, Tempo Lifting, Sprint Intervals, Some of them created for athletes, some for the general population, they all have their specific purpose.

Low Intensity steady state cardio is the best for your cardio vascular health, so jogging, Roller Skating, Swimming, Biking, Hiking, even Dancing anything that is not so intense that you cant maintain if for more than 30 minutes.

This type of movement strengthens your hearts ability to pump harder for a longer period of time, as well as improving your bodies ability to dilate (open up) your blood vessels. This improves your hearts ability to pump blood at baseline. Your heart is made of muscle the same way your muscles are, just as you have aerobic muscles (muscles that specialize in endurance) your heart can be trained in the same way.

Your blood pressure will be improved when your heart pumps very strong at rest and your body can properly dilate your blood vessels when needed. These two things will prevent blood clots and aid in the removal of potential clotting.

Get Moving!!! Grab your bike, some roller skate, even some sneakers and get going !!