Exercising with High Blood Pressure !

Hey y'all, 

When you have high blood pressure, listening to your body is important. 

Your top priority is to neutralize the threat of blood pressure before you push yourself toward more dramatic exercise goals. Frequency (number of exercise sessions per week) is more important than intensity. 

Here are a few tips to help you get started on the right foot.

• Talk to your doctor first. Certain exercises can be unsafe for people with hypertension. 
• You should not exercise unless your blood pressure is under control and monitored by a doctor.
• If you are new to exercise or haven't been active in awhile, start slowly and increase your workout time as you get stronger. A good starting point is 20 minutes of aerobic activity, 3 times per week. Examples include walking, swimming and biking. The best activities to do are the ones you enjoy and will stick with. Eventually, the goal is to work up to 45-60 minutes, 5 times per week. It is also important to let your body warm up and cool down gradually during each exercise session (5-10 minutes each).
• Work at an intensity that allows you to breathe comfortably and rhythmically throughout all phases of your workout to ensure a safe and comfortable level of exercise.
• Sensible strength training is safe for people with hypertension. Lift lighter weights and breathe throughout each exercise. Avoid strenuous, max lifts, isometric exercises, and holding your breath, all of which increase your blood pressure.
• Strength training has not consistently been shown to help lower blood pressure. Thus, it is recommended as just one component of a well-rounded fitness program that also includes aerobic exercise and flexibility training.
• Some medications (such as beta-blockers) lower both your resting heart rate and your heart rate when working out. Therefore, when exercising, your heart rate will NOT reflect how hard you are actually working. For individuals on beta-blockers (or similar medications), it is NOT recommended that you measure your exercise intensity using a heart rate method. The RPE scale and Talk Test methods are safe and accurate for people with hypertension.

It's never too late to start an active lifestyle. No matter how old you are, how unfit you feel, or how long you've been inactive, research shows that starting a more active lifestyle improves your health. Increasing your overall activity, even in ways you wouldn't think of as exercise, also boasts big benefits!

Until da next tyme!

Causes of high Blood Pressure Controllable Factors

Hey peeps,

Last week, I told you all about causes of High blood pressure and the uncontrollable factors that we are unable to help with.

This week ,  we are discussing the factors that we can control !

Factors that you can control are related to your lifestyle--the choices you make each day about what to eat and whether or not to exercise. These are areas of your life where you can take control to improve your blood pressure and enhance your overall health.


Controllable Risk Factors

Your diet. A diet high in sodium, saturated fat and cholesterol, and low in fiber, whole foods, and minerals (potassium, magnesium, calcium) can increase blood pressure. Eating a low-sodium, low-fat diet that is rich in whole foods and other nutrients can help.

Your activity level. Sedentary individuals have a higher risk for hypertension. Regular exercise can lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Your weight. Being obese (a Body Mass Index over 30) increases your risk of developing high blood pressure. Dropping just 10% of your body weight can have positive effects on blood pressure.

Your stress levels. Studies show that chronic stress (and "Type A" personality traits) can elevate blood pressure. Exercise, meditation, and yoga can help reduce and manage stress and blood pressure.

Your drinking habits. Moderate to heavy drinking (more than 1-2 drinks daily) can dramatically increase blood pressure and other health risks. Health experts recommend no more than one drink a day for women, and no more than two drinks per day for men.

Your smoking habits. Smoking is the leading preventable cause of heart disease, due to its effects on your arteries, heart, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. Quitting can stop (and potentially reverse) a lot of the existing damage to your body, and improve your blood pressure.

When you have other existing health conditions, you are compounding your risk of serious complications and disease if you don't lower your blood pressure. Add high risk factors into the picture (family history, age, and race) and your risk is compounded even more. The good thing is that you can break that chain of progressive disease at any point by changing the lifestyle choices above.

Until da next Tyme !

Causes of High Blood Presssure !

hey peeps,

So this is sharing and edcuating month..... so the lesssons continue. Yesterday my blog explained the causes of Diabetes type 2. Unfortunately High BP ( Blood Pressure ) is a very close relative of type 2 and the causes are almost similar

Lowering your blood pressure isn't always as simple as eating fewer high-sodium foods. The fact is that multiple factors combined affect your blood pressure. There are two main categories of risks that contribute to hypertension--those that you can't change, and those that you can.


Uncontrollable Risk Factors


These variables are out of your control. Although you can't do anything to change them, it's important to know whether you fall into any of these higher-risk categories.


• Your age. Your risk of developing high blood pressure increases as you age. Men over 45 and women over 55 are more likely to have high blood pressure.


• Your gender. Up to age 55, men are more prone to high blood pressure than women. After menopause, a woman's risk increases. By age 75, high blood pressure is more prevalent among women than men. Women who take oral contraceptives are also at a higher risk for hypertension.


• Your family history. Your risk doubles if one or both of your parents had high blood pressure.


• Your race. In the U.S., African Americans (especially women) are more likely to develop high blood pressure, along with other minorities (Hispanics, American Indians and Alaskan natives).

Until da next Tyme !