Exercise and Your Blood Pressure

Regular aerobic exercise is a very important aspect to the health and wellbeing of everyone. However many people make the mistake of thinking starting huge workouts are the best form of exercise, when in actual fact much more moderate exercise such as brisk walking or swimming is one of the better forms of improving your health.

Before you even think of undertaking any type of aerobic type exercise, though particularly if you haven’t exercised for a long time or you have any sort of medical problems, you should consult your doctor and ask for his advice.

He may be unhappy about you taking up any specific type of exercise and he will want to ensure he is happy for you to continue with you starting your new exercise regime. He may even suggest you change some of your lifestyle habits such as your diet or even your prescribed drugs etc.

Exercise is an important factor in relation to any type of raised blood pressure. This is because the blood pressure rises very sharply during physical activity especially when you are unfit. Sometimes this can be to dangerous levels.

However some studies have also shown people who undertake a regular exercise regime are much fitter and healthier with a lower blood pressure. Other reasons for this could include the fact healthy people eat a healthier diet, drink in moderation (or not at all), and usually don’t smoke or they smoke very little.

Therefore it should be remembered energetic exercise could actually prove to be harmful to an unfit person, and should be avoided until fitness levels have been built up over a period of time.

There are more sedate exercises that are much better for an unfit person to start with. These include cycling, walking and swimming; these shouldn’t cause you any problems with your blood pressure if you do them gradually.

If you are unfit, it's vital you slowly build your fitness levels up over a sensible period of time. Many people find themselves in their local casualty department because they decided to take up an exercise and didn't approach it sensibly. They pull hamstrings, suffer chest pains or

For example if you decide to try walking (which is a super exercise), try and build your pace nice and slowly over a period of time

Start your regime three times a week for fifteen-twenty minutes at a time and progressively try and increase your pace, your distance and your sessions until you are doing a secure thirty minutes per session three times a week which is not leaving you feeling ill.

If you make a decision to join the gym, please ensure you take a sensible approach and don't overdo it. Make sure you have a proper workout planned for you by a qualified fitness instructor who will obtain all your medical history and take it into account when planning your exercises, because if you decide to go for it alone, you may find you're just asking for your health to suffer.