High blood pressure is a particularly dangerous disease with potentially devastating effects, yet it often goes unnoticed. Checking your blood pressure on a regular basis can save your life, and there is additional value in checking blood pressure during exercise. For this reason, understanding the appropriate short- and long-term blood pressure responses to exercise is important.
Identification
Understanding how blood pressure responds to exercise is simple when you consider the factors that influence the pressure in blood vessels: heart rate, fluid volume, vessel diameter and blood thickness. Accordingly, blood pressure increases during exercise because heart rate increases; increases are excessively high if systolic pressure, the bottom number, exceeds 250 mmHg or if diastolic pressure, the bottom number, exceeds 90 mmHg. In general, people with high blood pressure at rest will have the highest systolic and diastolic pressures during exercise.
Significance
How your blood pressure responds to exercise often says a lot about your overall cardiovascular health. A study in the March 2010 issue of the International Heart Journal showed that blood pressure response during moderate intensity cardiovascular exercise is an independent predictor of death from heart disease among individuals with existing heart disease, even among those currently taking blood pressure medications. For this reason, blood pressure measurements are taken before, during and immediately after a routine stress test.
Considerations
Consider your other risk factors when interpreting your exercise blood pressure, due to the fact that abnormally high responses during exercise are not always a bad thing. According to a study published in the June 2010 issue of the "Journal of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology", increased blood pressure response in otherwise healthy men can actually indicate a better overall prognosis, a higher fitness level and increased neural control of the heart.
Types of Exercise
The most extreme blood pressure responses to exercise occur during high-intensity weight lifting. A study published in the 2003 issue of the "Journal of the American Medical Association" found that systolic blood pressure can exceed 300 mmHg during heavy lifting equivalent to or greater than an individual's body weight. To avoid a similar response, use proper breath techniques during strength training, especially the hardest phase of the lift.
Benefits
Both cardiovascular exercise and strength training can significantly improve short- and long-term blood pressure among healthy individuals and those with hypertension, though the evidence supporting the benefits of strength training is somewhat limited. Most studies indicate that an active lifestyle that includes moderate to vigorous cardiovascular exercise--performed most days of the week--is ideal for achieving this goal.
References
- "International Heart Journal"; Systolic Blood Pressure Response to Exercise as a Predictor of Mortality in Patients with Chronic Heart Failure.
- "Journal of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology"; Normotensive Individuals with Exaggerated Exercise Blood Pressure Response have Increased Cardiac Vagal Tone; Ramos P.S. et al; June 2010
- "Journal of the American Medical Association"; Weight Lifting and Rupture of Silent Aortic Aneurysms; Elefteriades J.A. et al; December 2003
