Lower Your High Blood Pressure with Exercise

Do you have high blood pressure? If so, you are probably taking medications to bring the high blood pressure numbers down. While blood pressure medications are effective, there are lifestyle habits that are also effective in bringing the high blood pressure numbers down.

The lifestyle intervention this article is focusing on is exercise. Regularly participating in exercise has many health benefits to your heart, brain, lungs, muscles, and bones all at the same time with minimal side effects! Exercise is a polypill that is the best buy for your health!

Lowering blood pressure is a well-known benefit of exercise. American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) is the largest and most credited sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world. According to ACSM, individuals with high blood pressure should:

• Exercise on most, preferably all, days of the week
• Exercise at moderate intensity, meaning you can still talk while exercising
• Exercise for 20 to 30 minutes each day either in one session, or in multiple short sessions throughout the day
• Perform aerobic (such as walking, jogging, biking and swimming) or strength (such as weightlifting and body weight workout) exercise alone or combined in addition to neuromotor exercise (such as yoga) and flexibility exercise (such as stretching)

You might have heard about Tai Chi. It is a neuro-motor or mind-body exercise originated in China about 400 years ago. Tai Chi practice is a combination of continuous and coordinated physical movements, mental relaxation, and slow and deep breathing. Tai Chi practice is low impact, so it is easy on your joints. In addition, Tai Chi practice has over 108 different forms, so it will never be repetitive. Currently, Tai Chi is mostly known as an exercise to improve balance. In fact, Tai Chi is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to improve balance and prevent falls among older adults. However, you might not know that Tai Chi exercise is also effective in lowering blood pressure. Recently, our and other research groups has shown that Tai Chi can lower systolic blood pressure (the top number) up to 10-15 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) up to 4-6 mmHg.

Do you want to practice Tai Chi to lower your blood pressure? Check out our UConn research study (click here) that offers 36 free, live, online Tai Chi classes for adults 55 year of age or older who have high blood pressure.