Tips for Health and Exercising With High Blood Pressure

Following a regular exercise routine is a great strategy for reducing your blood pressure. Your blood pressure is basically the amount of force your blood placing on the walls of blood vessels as it circulates throughout the body. Many people suffer from hypertension, which is the medical definition for elevated blood pressure. Though being active can help, it is important that you take caution when exercising with this condition.
There are many ways you can be easy with your workouts and remain active. The following are few things to keep in mind when you are exercising and suffer from hypertension.

• If you are not used to exercising, you will want to start off easy and work your way up. A brisk walk after dinner two to three days a week is a great way to begin. This can eventually be increased to a light jog or a full workout using light weights.
• Be careful not to over exert yourself anytime you work out. You do need to push yourself a little more each week of exercising, but you still want to be careful. Exercising with high blood pressure requires you to pay close attention to your body so you know when to slow down or rest.
• Getting into a routine of working out will help you become more consistent, and it could help lower your blood pressure. Jumping in front of your television with your aerobics DVD once every other week causes you to push yourself further than you probably should go. However, exercising three times a week for 30 minutes each time will allow you to move at a slower pace while still being beneficial to your overall being.
• Include a proper warm up and cool down to each workout session. This helps reduce the stress exercise can place on the body. It will also make your activities more effective. The warm up moves you from a resting to an active state. Slowly increasing your heart rate and breathing are better for your body, especially when exercising with high blood pressure. A cool down at the end should involve very light activity as well as stretching.
• Speak with your doctor before beginning any exercise routine, especially if you suffer from hypertension. He may be able to provide you with suggestions for working out based on your medical history. Keep in touch with him about your exercise progress as well. This is especially true if you have changed your medications recently.

Exercising with high blood pressure can be done, but you make need to proceed with caution more than someone with a normal pressure. Still, it is highly recommended that most people with hypertension be as active as possible in order to maintain their health, and possibly lower their blood pressure readings.