Exercise Attacks Blood Pressure, Destroying It Forever
Posted on April 17, 2015
Exercise can play a huge role in the prevention and treatment of many common diseases. Last week I wrote about the effects it has on the outcomes of heart disease. This week I’d like to bring attention to one of the most prevalent conditions in the world: Hypertension.
What is Hypertension?
Hypertension in a clinical sense actually refers to chronic high blood pressure. Our blood pressure may rise or fall throughout the day for a variety of (acute) reasons including stress and exercise but the condition of hypertension is the persistence of high blood pressure on a daily basis. Normal blood pressure values are approximately 120/80 mmHg. The first number (systolic pressure) refers to pressure as the heart beats and pumps blood out to the body and the second number (diastolic pressure) is the pressure during the relaxation stage of the heart cycle. To give you an idea of the risks associated with high blood pressure, for every 20/10 mmHg above normal blood pressure, the risk of cardiovascular disease doubles. So if your blood pressure is 160/110 you would be 3X more likely to have a heart attack, heart failure or stroke. Scary stuff, right? The problem is, hypertension can easily go undetected as there are often little to no symptoms. For this reason, it’s been dubbed the “silent killer” since you might not know you have it until the damage has already been done.
What type of damage you might ask?
A whole host of health problems can arise from having chronic high blood pressure. Increased pressure on the endothelial walls of our blood vessels over time causes damage to them and eventually narrows them, reducing blood and oxygen delivery to other parts of the body. Lack of oxygen to the brain can make you drowsy, confused and give you headaches. Lack of oxygen to the heart can cause permanent damage to the muscles and structures that keep it pumping. In extreme cases of damaged vessels, complete obstruction or clots can form causing heart attack and stroke which are both potentially fatal. But this is not restricted to just cardiovascular damage; kidney failure and eye problems are just a couple of the other detrimental effects of hypertension.
So can exercise actually help with Hypertension?
Yes it can! The body’s ability to regulate blood pressure depends partly on the total resistance in the blood vessels. A constricted or obstructed vessel can greatly increase blood pressure. Exercise increases the release of nitrous oxide which allows blood vessels to dilate and thus increase their diameter to reduce pressure in the system. It also influences factors that cause the build-up of gunk that stiffens our blood vessels in the first place. So not only does it prevent the development of hypertension, it also helps to lower the blood pressure of those who are already hypertensive. A study by Pescatello et al found that low to moderate intensity exercise lowered blood pressure significantly for up to 22 hours after in people who had mild to moderate hypertension. They suggested that the cumulative effect of this ‘Post-Exercise Hypotension’ was able to sustain a lowered blood pressure throughout the week, provided they exercised at least 3 times per week. But the best results were seen in those who exercised 30+ minutes per day. A break in the exercise program was shown to return blood pressure to their previous normal levels, so you have to keep exercising to reap the benefits!
