Regular exercise can reduce your blood pressure by 5 to 10 mm of mercury, according to MayoClinic.com. The American Heart Association categorizes high blood pressure as readings chronically exceeding 140/90 mm Hg. Regular physical activity helps reduce your blood pressure by increasing the health of your cardiovascular system and reducing your weight.
Response to Exercise
During aerobic exercise, your diastolic and systolic pressures react differently. Your diastolic pressure is the amount of force the blood puts on your vessel walls during the relaxation phase of the heartbeat. Peripheral resistance around the body influences diastolic pressure. Because the resistance around your body decreases due to vasodilation, diastolic pressure remains unchanged or may even decrease. Systolic pressure --- the amount of blood force on the vessel walls during pumping --- is influenced by cardiac output. This means systolic pressure should increase in proportion to exercise intensity.
Cardiovascular Adaptations
Your body adapts to the demands of regular exercise. One of these adaptations is a more efficient cardiovascular system. The heart grows able to pump more blood per beat, which reduces your heart rate. Blood distribution also changes and the number of capillaries increase, reducing resistance around the body and lowering blood pressure. In general, the heart is able to supply blood to the body with less effort, which reduces the force that blood flow places on your arteries.
Weight
Working out can help with weight loss, which can lead to a lower blood pressure. A study published in "Annals of Internal Medicine" in January 2001 looked at the effects of weight loss on hypertension. Researchers looked at 1,191 overweight, hypertensive adults between 30 and 40 years of age in a three-year weight loss intervention group or a control group with no weight-loss intervention. Those in the weight-loss group benefited the most. At the six-month checkup, weight loss accounted for a reduction of 2.7 mm Hg systolic blood pressure. Those who lost 20 lbs. over the three years reduced diastolic pressure by 7 mm Hg and systolic pressure by 5 mm Hg.
Exercise Prescription
The American College of Sports Medicine outlines specific recommendations for exercise in the treatment of hypertension. Participate in regular aerobic activity that lasts between 30 and 60 minutes per day, ideally seven days per week. Exercise training should be moderate to moderately hard in intensity. Resistance training can accompany aerobic training but should not replace it. Concentrate on using a low weight with a large number of repetitions, using all of the major muscle groups.
References
- MayoClinic.com; Exercise: A Drug-free Approach to Lowering High Blood Pressure; August 2010
- American Heart Association: Understanding Blood Pressure Readings; June 2011
- "Exercise Testing and Prescription"; David C. Nieman; 2007
- Sports Fitness Advisor: The Cardiovascular System and Exercise
- University of Medicine and Dentistry New Jersey; Modest Weight Loss and Blood Pressure Control: It Really Does Work; 2002
- "Annals of Internal Medicine"; Long-Term Weight Loss and Changes in Blood Pressure: Results of the Trials of Hypertension Prevention, Phase II; Victor J. Stevens, Ph.D., et al.; 2001
