Q: What type of exercises are recommend for blood pressure patients?
A: A good exercise program will include activity that is physical enough to increase your heart rate, will increase muscle mass, and increase flexibility. For suggestions on this type of program go to The American Heart Association’s Website.
Further Reading:
New Guidelines for Exercise and Hypertension – WebMD
How to Treat Hypertension with Regular Exercise – eHow.com
(14 votes, average: 3.50 out of 5)
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The best exercise for lowering BP is endurance (running, biking), as recommended in the links provided. Just be careful what “moderate” means. Technically it is 75-85% of heart rate, but it s quite intense for most de-conditioned people. You will need to break quite a bit of sweat and maintain the intensity for 20-25 minutes to get real benefits. Just doing walking or easy pedaling will get you some benefits initially, but not much. The best approach is to do “moderate” for 3 times a week, and “easy”, recovery (walking, for example) activity on the other 4 days.
For some people who do exercise regularly, eat a basic healthy diet, and are not obese…. the best exercise is no exercise, but to just relax. So many people really don’t know how to relax. The resperate device does help you to relax and calm the mind. For some people, like me, just calming the mind can bring down the bp! That must be why yoga and mediation is often recommended.
The problem with getting your heart rate up to Max is the formula( Max heart rate 220-age and .70 or .85 x Max heart rate. I am 70 years old so by this formuala I am supposed to get my heart rate up to 105 minium. The problem I have with this is my normal heart rate with medication is 65 bpm. Another person has a heart rate of 85 bpm. It seems to me like the average beats per minute ought to be figured into the formula as I will have to work harder,longer to get to 105 beats per minute than the person who has an average heart rate of 85 BPM?? same age. e-mail [email protected] with comment.
“For some people who do exercise regularly, eat a basic healthy diet, and are not obese…. the best exercise is no exercise, but to just relax.”
This is totally false. Relaxation is PART of an overall plan to take care of yourself, but exercise is also an integral part. It strenghens your muscles (the most important being the heart), your cardiovasular system, and your joints.
Please do NOT follow the recommendation that all you need to do is relax. That is only one tiny portion of taking care of yourself.
Educator Robert Hutchins: “I get my exercise running around to the funerals of my athletic friends.”
I wholeheartedly agree with Jason. The best exercise is NEVER no exercise. A good fitness plan will include aerobic exercise to help maintain lower blood pressure and anaerobic exercise to help maintain muscle mass. Anaeroic exercise typically involves weight training. Aerobic exercise includes hiking, walking, aerobics, eliptical, treadmill, dancercise or anything that consistently keeps your heart rate in the “aerobic range” , generally 60 to 80 percent of your maximum heart rate. There are formulas, the Karvonen formula for example, which take into consideration your resting heart rate, i.e. your heart rate in the morning at rest before you really get into the activities of the day. This gives somewhat different answers than the standard formula you mention. You can google the Karvonen formula to see how your “resting heart rate” affects your aerobic levels.
Also, if you are on beta blockers, you will have a difficult time getting your heart rate up to aerobic levels. When I took those, I used to take them right after exercising, not before, so that I could minimize their negative impact on my ability to get my heart rate up to therapeutic levels by having the least amount of drug in my system just before exercising. That might help you. One of the big problems with these meds is that they discourage people from exercising as it seems futile and too hard to get their heart rates up! Don’t give up, and hopefuly the exercise can help you get off the drugs or at least reduce them. You might also try natural ACE inhibitors like pomegranate and natural diuretics like celery, dandelion leaf, parsley, juniper berry, and others.
I hope these ideas help!
Hi,
I would appreciate it if you could send me a complete list of natural ace inhibitors.
Thank You.
I agree with JasonM that relaxation is part of a plan to lower your BP. I play tennis vigorously with players 20-30yrs my age and my BP reads 127/80. My heart pumps very strong and I feel like a 20yr old at the age of 64yrs. I follow the advce of Dr Al Sears of USA and he has an incredible “Pace Program” that blows away all other fitness praograms. Long distance endurance exercises are not needed to take you to a state of optinum health, fitness and welbeing. I’t gotta be good for…I know…I’m a Kiwi/NZ…
Tai Chi has been proven to be an excellent way of lowering BP & also increase balance, flexibility & inner strength. One of the best things you can do for your health.
I pray I can get off all this HBP drugs and their side effects. when I was 67 I made the mistake of going to the doctor for a physical. I average blood pressure was 125/77-133/80 taken at home monthly. I truly believe when i went to the doctor i had a little “white coat hypertention” plus had to wait in the waiting room for 3 hours. I was furious! was ready to walk out when they called me back. When the doctor came in the room he said “U got high blood pressure”. he spent less than 5 minutes with me .just long enough to write me a prescription and tell me how important it was for me to take the drugs. He didn’t tell me how high my blood pressure was. The drugs he gave me have a rebound effect. The scare and worry kept my blood pressure up “out of control” .They had me on 5 drugs. drugs led to insomia which caused depression and more drugs. I finally stoped seeing doctors and slowly eased off drugs. I now see a doctor every six months that has helped me get off three of the HBPdrugs,and have a BP 133/82 average. I still take depression drug and drug for insomia but have been able to cut these in half. Be careful-some doctors can kill you as they almost did me.
I am 72 and have a SI hip problem, so it hurts if I walk too far or too fast. I use an exercise bike but it is hard to get the heartbeat up to a good level. I pedal away for 30 min a day. My bp has been going up but I hate the thought of more pills. Take Atenalol and lisinipril….. enough already!
I live in france ,went to doctor after big night on the wine,he put me on 5 drugs ,and said for rest of my life.my bp is 130-80 67yrs old even though i have been
through 3yrs of depressive divorce,my chemist here said that doctors recieve money from drug companys,Iwould say to anyone dont be il or divorced in france!!hell
I am having bunion surgery. (Crecentic Osteotomy)on April 20. I had planned on doing a marathon at the end of September. Are there any other runners out there that can give me an idea how long before I can actually do that distance? I am not interested in being fast, just finishing. Is there any possibility that I will be able to finish this race even at a fast walk?
I WAITED IN THE DOCTOR’S OFFICE FOR AN HOUR BEFORE HE SAW ME… OF COURSE MY HEART RATE WAS UP… I WAS MADDDDDDDD.
HE TOOK AT LEAST THREE MINUTES TO TAKE MY BLOOD PRESSURE.
I AM NOW ON THE LOWEST DOSE OF BP MEDICINE. I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO DOING THE HINTS THAT YOU HAVE PROVIDED…
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR CARING…
Elizabeth W.
Glad to find this group. Recent BP for me too. Have me on 6.25 Carvedilol (alpha/beta blocker) 2X/day, plus Xanax, pluis lotsa water. Now waking up 2-3X/nite, due to water. I am thin, just retired. Doc’s say it’s b/c my body has not downshifted, still working at hyperrate. Any ideas? Am moderate exercizer for much of life, v high activity req’d on job. Fair eater.
I am 49 yrs old. I’ve recently had a pre-employment physical .my blood pressure is so high (164/100) that I can’t get passed. I need to do something in ten days before the next visit. Also, I have a 3 month window to show that I can qualify for the job.
Try MasterCleanse for quick reductions in your BP. Its a water, lemon, and maple syrup mixture–thats all you eat for 10 days. It works!
Is there any help out there? I am 49 yrs old. I’ve recently had a pre-employment physical .my blood pressure is so high (164/100) that I can’t get passed. I need to do something in ten days before the next visit. Also, I have a 3 month window to show that I can qualify for the job
To the 49yr. old with hbp and needing to pass a pre-employment test. Are you on a no sodium diet, little sugar, high fibre? I walk 3 miles per day and I find if I stick to this routine with occasionally taking a diuretic, I can keep my blood pressure within an acceptable range. Hope this helps you Good Luck!