Aerobic exercise, or endurance training, is a great and effective way to lower your blood pressure. With your physician’s help, you can use exercise by itself to lower your blood pressure, or combine exercise with blood pressure medications to get your blood pressure to a healthy level. This how-to guide will give you the right type of exercise to use, and help you set your exercise goals.
Instructions
Exercising to Lower Blood Pressure
1. You must aerobically exercise, or endurance train, to lower your blood pressure. Although strength training, sprints, yoga (flexibility) and other types of exercise are beneficial to your health, they are not proven to effectively lower blood pressure.
2. Pick an aerobic exercise that you enjoy, as it will be easier to stick to an exercise program. Some examples may include walking, biking, basketball, or dancing. An easy way to exercise is to take an exercise class, join a walking or running group, or join a basketball league.
3. Set a goal for your exercise program. Be specific when you write down your goals. They must be measurable, realistic and time specific. A great example would be: I can bike at a medium pace for 15 minutes three times per week. I want to be able to bike at a medium to fast pace for 30 minutes 4-5 days per week.
4. Work your way from 3 days of aerobic exercise per week up to 4-6 days per week.Can’t fit in that many sessions or 30 minutes at once? Even 10 minutes sessions 2-3 times per day can help lower your blood pressure.
5. Combine your exercise program with a low-sodium diet and light weight training.
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