The practice of sports medicine allows an alternative treatment to medication for aspects of your health that may be improved with a change in your behavior. High blood pressure or hypertension can be modified for some through diet, exercise and weight loss. Visiting a sports medicine clinic and working with a doctor or exercise physiologist may allow you to treat high blood pressure without medication or invasive techniques.
Diet, Exercise and Weight Loss
The good news is that diet, exercise and weight loss can all improve a hypertension prognosis. In addition, the combination of diet and exercise will lead to weight loss. Certain aspects of your diet can influence both your weight gain as well as your blood pressure. Exercise helps contribute to a caloric deficit and can also influence your hypertension prognosis.
Exercise and Hypertension
Regular exercise can help lower your blood pressure and prevent hypertension. When you exercise, your systolic pressure increases as the intensity of exercise while the diastolic blood pressure decreases or remains the same. After exercise, blood pressure decreases due to the decreased innervation of the sympathetic nervous system which relaxes the heart rate and blood pressure. Over time, regular exercise can lead to an adaptation of decreased sympathetic tone and changes to your metabolism which can favorably affect your blood pressure.
Exercise Program for Hypertension
According to the American College of Sports Medicine, 30 minutes of moderate exercise each day can help reduce blood pressure. Participation in large muscle group dynamic activities like walking, biking or light aerobics. Exercise can be done three to seven days per week, but daily exercise is best to reduce blood pressure. If your resting blood pressure is greater than 200/110 mmHg, do not begin exercise.
Diet
What you eat can help control your weight and lower your cholesterol. High levels of sodium in your diet can lead to uncontrolled high blood pressure. Deficiencies, like potassium, can also contribute to a rise in blood pressure. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends reducing sodium intake to 1,500 mg or less per day and maintaining potassium intake at 4,700 mg per day.
Weight Loss
Being overweight or obese can directly contribute to hypertension. According to a study published in "Hypertension" in 2000, this may be correlated with an increase in sympathetic tone that comes with weight gain. Reducing overall body weight not only reduces the stress put on the heart to deliver blood to all the body's regions, it can also impact the influence the nervous system has on the heart. A modest weight reduction can help reduce blood pressure.
References
- "ACSM's Primary Care Sports Medicine"; Douglas B. McKeag and James L. Moeller; 2007
- Weight-Control Information Network: Do You Know the Health Risks of Being Overweight?; December 2007
- "ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription"; Mitchell H. Whaley, Ph.D., et al.; 2006
- "Your Guide to Lowering Your Blood Pressure with DASH"; U.S. Department of Agriculture; 1996
- "Hypertension"; Overweight and Hypertension; Stevo Julius, et al.; 2000
- University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey: Modest Weight Loss and Blood Pressure Control; It Really Does Work; January 2002
