High blood pressure is one of the diseases that affects the lives of a large number of people around the world, and treatments for this disease vary from one person to another.

If you suffer from high blood pressure, doctors have certainly prescribed you a group of medications and advised you to change your lifestyle, but did you know that there are natural treatments that can help lower blood pressure? Have you ever searched for exercises to lower blood pressure?

If your answer is yes, then you are reading in the right place. In this article, we will present to you a set of exercises to lower and control blood pressure, as we at Farashti Magazine care about your physical fitness and provide your knowledge with a lot of information and everything related to the health of your body.

High Blood Pressure Disease

Millions of people around the world suffer from high blood pressure, which occurs when the force of blood that affects the walls of the heart is too high. It can be due to a hereditary cause, inactivity, a diet excessively rich in sodium, or stimulants.

High blood pressure is dangerous if it is not treated appropriately, as it leads to serious complications such as arterial damage, heart attack, heart failure, aortic aneurysm, kidney disease, peripheral arterial disease, and vascular dementia.

Normal blood pressure is 120/80 mmHg or can be lower.

Exercises to Lower Blood Pressure Benefits

Exercises to lower blood pressure bring many benefits to your body, especially when practiced regularly, correctly, and for a specific time. Their results appear one to three months after starting the exercises, including:

• It strengthens the heart, which enables it to pump blood in larger quantities and with less effort.
• Reduces pressure on the arteries
• Blood pressure lowering exercises lower systolic pressure and diastolic pressure.
• It helps maintain a healthy weight and an ideal and fit body

You will not enjoy the benefits if you do not adhere to a specific exercise schedule.

Ideas that Encourage Exercises to Lower Blood Pressure

Many people consider exercise, especially exercises to lower blood pressure, tiring and a waste of time, and they often forget that they should exercise. Therefore, we provide you with some tips to encourage you to exercise:

• Find a training friend to train together and join you in walking and dancing in the club, as having a friend to share the exercises with you reduces your feeling of boredom and encourages you to perform the exercises in their entirety.
• Plan your exercise times and set an alarm to remind you of the exercises you need to do in your exercise schedule.
• Listen to songs while exercising and make it fun.

Consult your Doctor before Starting Exercises to Lower Blood Pressure

There are cases in which you must consult your doctor or caregiver and tell him about them before you start exercises to lower blood pressure so that the exercises do not cause harm to you. Among these cases, we mention:

• If you are overweight or obese
• If you do not exercise regularly and for enough time
• If you feel any pain while performing the exercises
• If you feel unwell
• If you are a smoker
• When you feel dizzy and dizzy when exercising
• If you feel pain in your jaw, chest or arms
• If you are over 55 years old
• If you have previously suffered a heart attack
• If you have diabetes or lung disease.
• Suppose you are taking blood pressure medications, as some medications can reduce the body's response to exercise. In that case, you should consult your doctor to evaluate your condition and change your medications as required.

Instructions before Starting Exercises to Lower Blood Pressure

You, Madam, must be careful before starting blood pressure-lowering exercises, as performing the exercises recklessly, without consulting a doctor, and without knowing how to apply them correctly can lead to adverse and harmful results. Here we will mention some instructions that you must apply:

Start at a slow pace

Start with warm-up exercises and make sure you are doing them correctly, then relax and then continue doing blood pressure lowering exercises slowly, then start increasing the intensity when you feel ready for it.

Stop if you feel any pain

Seek advice from your doctor or care from your caregiver if you feel tightness or pain in your chest, neck, arm, or jaw, or if you feel dizzy or have severe shortness of breath, or if your heartbeat becomes rapid and irregular. It is recommended that you stop exercising until they evaluate you. Your condition and they allow you to do so.

Check your heart rate

Checking your heart rate is one of the important things that should be done while doing exercises to lower blood pressure. Here is how to measure your heart rate:

Stand still and stop moving

Place your middle and index fingers on your neck next to your windpipe and look for a pulse
Count your heartbeats for 15 seconds
Multiply the resulting number by 4 to determine the number of heartbeats per minute.

Exercises to Lower Blood Pressure

Doctors advise patients with high blood pressure to practice exercises to lower blood pressure, which consist of moderate-intensity aerobic exercises such as walking, running, cycling, swimming and other exercises for at least half an hour over a period of 5-7 days, meaning at least 150 minutes per week.

Here we will learn about exercises to lower blood pressure:

Warm-up exercises

Warm-up exercises are very important for everyone who wants to practice various types of exercises, especially before practicing exercises to lower blood pressure, as they expand the blood vessels, increase the supply of oxygen to the muscles, raise the heart rate and reduce the pressure on it. These are some types of light warm-up exercises that are appropriate before performing exercises. Lowering blood pressure:

• Jog in the same place for 5-10 minutes
• Punching for a minute or two
• Raise the right and left knee for a minute
• Squat lightly for a minute.

Dance

It is one of the exercises to lower blood pressure. You can register in the club and practice Zumba dancing, as it moves the entire body’s muscles and activates the heart. Make sure to perform the movements slowly.

Walking

It is one of the easiest exercises to lower blood pressure, as it is a low-impact exercise that is very beneficial for patients with high blood pressure, and it significantly reduces your weight and your blood pressure by reducing blood vessel stiffness and improving blood flow.

Doctors and healthcare providers recommend walking for at least an hour or half an hour, 3 or 4 times a week. You can start with simple, low-impact physical activity that will tighten all the muscles in your body and strengthen your heart health.

As an encouragement, you can look for a trail buddy or look for a group sports class to practice walking. The speed, distance, and time can be controlled according to what suits your comfort. Walking helps you burn good amounts of calories, and thus helps reduce stress.

A moderate-paced walk for about an hour in nature can maintain your fitness and mental and physical health and is therefore considered one of the best exercises for lowering blood pressure.

Stretching exercises

It is one of the exercises to lower blood pressure, but indirectly, as it helps you do strength exercises and aerobic exercises while reducing the occurrence of tension in your muscles, and it also increases your fitness when you practice exercises to strengthen your heart muscle.

Up the stairs exercise

It is considered one of the exercises to lower blood pressure, as it contributes to raising the amounts of oxygen reaching the body’s muscles and other organs, and is useful in increasing the efficiency and strength of the lungs and heart.

Scientific studies have proven that exercising climbing stairs on a daily basis may improve the health of your circulatory system and reduce your risk of a heart attack or stroke. You just have to be careful and perform the exercise slowly.

Fast walking

It is one of the exercises to lower blood pressure, as it helps by doing it for half an hour long rounds or short rounds several times a day.

You can find a trail buddy while performing the exercise so that you do not feel bored and tired.

Swimming

It is one of the best exercises for lowering blood pressure. It is a guaranteed way to control blood pressure and strengthen the heart. It contributes to resting your joints and giving your heart, lungs and muscles a complete workout. Here are some types of swimming:

Breaststroke

It is an exercise to lower blood pressure. The practice time is half an hour, during which all the muscles in the body are moved. Here is how to perform it:

1. Get into the water, so that your chest touches the water, and your shoulders are parallel to the surface of the water.
2. Show part of your head above the water.
3. You have to remove your mouth from time to time to be able to breathe.
4. Hit the water with your arms and then pull them back so you can move forward.
5. Move your body up and down.
6. Kick the water with your legs.
7. Keep breathing while hitting the water with your arm.

Butterfly swimming

It is one of the exercises to lower blood pressure. Butterfly swimming is considered the best option for training the upper body and helps increase its flexibility. In this type of swimming, the body is moved like a butterfly, and it is difficult for beginners because it requires a certain physical strength. Here, my dear, is how to apply the movements. This swim:

1. Move your legs together like a dolphin kick.
2. Move your arms together to push the water back and down.
3. Move your torso like a worm as you move your body forward.
4. Bend your knees slightly and keep them together.
5. Start pushing down and back.
6. Hit the water with your arm with every two kicks.
7. Squeeze the water back with your hands (your palms should be facing outward when you press down).
8. Move your arms forward over the water to complete the stroke.
9. Breathe at the end of the arm stroke in this type of swimming.

Freestyle swimming

It is one of the exercises to lower blood pressure. It is the easy and common type that is suitable for all swimming practitioners, from beginners to professionals, as they can swim long distances because it does not require the expenditure of great energy like other types of swimming, and it gives the body training for most of its parts, as it moves the muscles of the legs and arms. And the back. Here are the steps for practicing freestyle swimming:

1. Kick the water with your feet, move your arms forward and push the water.
2. Maintain breathing even though it is difficult (the head is in the water most of the time)
3. Hit the water with your legs and push it forward, alternating between them.
4. Bend your knee slightly, relax your knees and ankles, and move your arms in a windmill-like motion.
5. Pull your arms into the water with equal force.
6. Keep breathing as you raise your shoulder to one side.
7. Do not raise your head too high, as this will slow down your movement.
8. Take a breath out of the water, then exhale it by exhaling into the water.
9. Repeat turning your head to the other side at the beginning of your arm stroke.

Yoga exercises

Yoga exercises are considered one of the simplest exercises to lower blood pressure, as they contribute to raising oxygen levels in the blood, improving the breathing process and thus strengthening the heart muscle and lowering blood pressure.

Cycling

It is one of the best exercises for lowering blood pressure, as it strengthens the heart, increases its heart rate, improves oxygen access to all parts of the body, burns calories and lowers blood pressure without harming the joints of the knees and elbows.

10 minutes of riding a stationary or moving bike helps lower blood pressure. It can be done at home on a stationary bike or out for a walk on the bike and can be done with friends. It helps calm your mind, makes you feel refreshed, focuses on the abdominal area, and activates your body in general, thus improving your general health. It strengthens your heart and controls your blood pressure

Strength training

Although it is difficult to believe, weightlifting is an exercise to lower blood pressure, as it raises blood pressure, but for a temporary period, improves physical fitness and strengthens muscles, thus improving blood pressure.

Strength exercises, such as lifting weights, resistance exercises, and push-ups, are among the most important exercises to strengthen the heart muscle. They contribute to increasing the strength and building of your body’s muscles, especially the heart muscle, and thus lead to lowering blood pressure.

The accumulation of fat in your body is one of the most common causes of heart disease and heart attacks. Studies conducted by researchers have proven that strength training helps burn fat and calories and build your body mass by lowering bad LDL cholesterol and raising HDL, which is called good cholesterol, and this leads to lower blood pressure. blood, and reduce the chances of heart attacks by rates ranging between 40-70%.

We advise you, my dear, to practice strength exercises 3 times a week, taking rest days in between. It is also important to take a break after performing exercises.

Wall-site

Do you have a few minutes of free time and a wall? Try a wall sit exercise.

It is a low-impact exercise in which the muscles contract for a short period without moving, and it is one of the best and most effective exercises for lowering blood pressure, as adding the wall sit exercise for ten minutes to your exercise schedule contributes greatly to lowering your blood pressure, and it is easy and simple and you can do it at Any place, such as work or home, takes a little time and does not require tools. Here is how to do the exercise:

1. Lean against the wall
2. Lower along the wall until you are in a sitting position, leaning against the wall
3. Stay in this position for two minutes
4. Rest for two minutes
5. Repeat the movements four times until the total interval time is approximately 14 minutes
6. Do not hold your breath while performing the exercise.

Doctors and healthcare providers recommend that you sit for up to 14 minutes a day, three days a week.

Chair exercise

It is one of the easiest exercises to lower blood pressure, and patients who cannot walk or stand easily resort to it. It does not require any special equipment, it just relies on a chair with armrests. Here is how to do the exercise:

1. Sit upright
2. Push your hands forward at shoulder height
3. Keep your wrists extended forward for a few seconds
4. Return them to leaning on the armrests of the chair
5. Repeat the exercise 4 to 5 times

Tips to Lower Blood Pressure

Many tips must be followed in addition to exercises to lower blood pressure to help in the process of lowering and controlling it, including:

• Change your lifestyle and diet
• Reduce the amount of salt you eat
• Avoid alcohol and caffeine as much as you can
• Striving to lose weight
• Stay away from smoking as much as possible

If you follow these tips, it will help you lower and control your blood pressure.

Useful Foods for People with High Blood Pressure

In addition to the exercises to lower blood pressure and the instructions and advice that we talked about, there are foods that people with high blood pressure should pay attention to eating and adding to their diet, and we will talk about them briefly so that you will be encouraged to add them to your diet and help you lower your blood pressure:

Broccoli

Broccoli is beneficial for health and the circulatory system and is full of flavonoid antioxidants, which help lower blood pressure, enhance blood vessel function, and increase nitric oxide in the body.

Raspberries and strawberries

These fruits are rich in antioxidants, so we advise you to add them to your diet.

Banana

Bananas contain abundant amounts of potassium, which contributes to lowering blood pressure, as potassium reduces the effects of sodium and reduces the pressure on the walls of blood vessels, which is why doctors recommend adding them to your diet.

Beetroot

It reduces pressure because it contains dietary nitrates. You can add beets to salads, or drink one cup of beetroot juice, so we recommend consuming it whenever you can.

Watermelon

Watermelon contains citrulline, which helps in the production of nitric oxide, which in turn improves and relaxes your blood vessels, increases the elasticity of your arteries and leads to lower blood pressure.

At the end of the article, we hope that you have benefited and learned more about exercises to lower blood pressure and the steps to implement them, the foods that you should add to your diet, and the instructions that must be followed to achieve the best results and reach your goal.

For more information and articles about fitness, do not hesitate to follow Farashati magazine or follow Sarah’s Pop Fit programs and challenges via YouTube videos.

Frequently Asked Questions about Exercises to Lower Blood Pressure

What is apprximately the normal pressure value?
Normal blood pressure is 120/80 mmHg or can be lower.

What are the benefits of stress-reducing exercises?
It strengthens the heart, which enables it to pump blood in larger quantities and with less effort, reduces pressure on the arteries, and exercises to lower blood pressure lead to lower systolic and diastolic pressure, and help maintain a healthy weight and an ideal and fit body.

Can I monitor my blood pressure at home?
Yes, you can, using a home blood pressure measuring device, and the pressure must be taken at the same time of day for several consecutive days

What are the easiest exercises to lower blood pressure?
Walking, running, cycling and swimming

Does high blood pressure threaten patients' lives?
Yes, it threatens the lives of patients, because it can cause a stroke, heart attack, and other serious complications if it is not treated.

What should I eat besides exercise to lower blood pressure?
You can eat broccoli, watermelon, spinach, kiwi, and garlic

How long should I do exercises to lower blood pressure?
You should practice exercises to lower blood pressure for at least half an hour over 5-7 days, meaning at least 150 minutes per week.

Written by: Haidy Soliman

Sources 

Verywell fit 

Mayoclinic

 ACE

Healthline