The Most Effective Exercise for Lowering Blood Pressure

Introduction

If you are currently taking medication for high blood pressure or in danger of doing this, you should know that you can do things to improve your hypertension.

One of the most effective is exercise.

** ALWAYS CHECK WITH YOUR PHYSICIAN BEFORE STARTING ANY FORM OF EXERCISE FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

I have worked with thousands of patients battling high blood pressure, and many of them had been on an exercise regimen but had seen little to no results with their blood pressure.

Numerous recent studies show a specific TECHNIQUE of exercise works better than any other to reduce blood pressure. This is great because you can use the technique for any exercise you like: biking, walking, running, swimming, etc.

The technique is called “HIIT” or High-Intensity Interval Training. Almost anyone can do it, and it’s easy to do.

Read the article below for the particulars and instructions on how you can get started.

Here’s another article about using isometric exercise (at your desk or driving your car!) to reduce blood pressure.

I hope this helps!

Dr. Melodie Billiot

HIIT and blood pressure

Ronald Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O., DACBN, MS, CFMP

When it comes to lowering blood pressure, exercise is a non-negotiable factor.

You may be wondering what would be the most effective form of exercise to lower blood pressure?

More and more studies are showing the exciting results of something called HIIT in lowering blood pressure. HIIT stands for High-Intensity Interval Training

What is HIIT?
HIIT is not any specific exercise; instead, it is a technique. You can apply this technique to almost any exercise, whether it be walking, riding a bike, swimming, doing some body weight exercises, or even dancing in your living room.

** ALWAYS CHECK WITH YOUR PHYSICIAN BEFORE STARTING ANY FORM OF EXERCISE FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

HIIT training combines very short bursts of working at your absolute maximum alternating short periods of active recovery rest. Research has found that this form of exercising gives you more health benefits than any other way of exercising.

It shortens the amount of time you need to exercise and is more effective; you work out for just 10-30 minutes and reap impressive health benefits.  You burn more body fat, your metabolism is stimulated for long after you finish exercising, and it also helps you utilize oxygen more efficiently.

One of the most significant benefits people find from HIIT is the reduction in training time. Through HIIT, you can put in about half the amount of time compared to traditional cardio exercise to reach your goals.

One study found that just 2 minutes of HIIT sprinting increased metabolism as much as 30 minutes of running.  HIIT increases the efficiency of your heart, and HIIT training also has a significant effect on naturally lowering your blood pressure.

HIIT and blood pressure:

Although most any type of exercise has its benefits, HIIT shines when it comes to saving time. Using the HIIT technique is the ultimate shortcut. 

Study after study shows that HIIT exercise improves blood pressure in people with hypertension better than any other exercise routine.

HIIT is highly effective in reducing resting heart rate and blood pressure in overweight and obese individuals. 

It has been shown that HIIT exercising just three times per week for just 20 minutes at a time lowers blood pressure more effectively than continuous endurance training.

What is the science that makes HIIT so effective?

HIIT training changes something called endothelial function. 

The endothelium is a very thin membrane that lines the inside of your heart and your blood vessels. The cells in this membrane release various substances that control how your blood vessels relax and contract.

We know that stiff hard arteries play a role in high blood pressure.

The ability of your artery walls to expand (vasodilate) is very important.

You need to have flexibility in your arteries to allow for proper blood flow throughout your body.

HIIT improves endothelial function and reduces the stiffness in your artery walls more than any other traditional form of exercise.

Just a 1% improvement in your endothelial function can result in a 13% reduction in the risk of cardiovascular events like heart attacks and strokes.

One study showed that 73% of people restored blood pressure to normal using a HIIT training method for just two months and 24 exercise sessions. There was a significant reduction in systolic blood pressure from 145.4 (± 9.0) to 118.3 ( ± 15.6) mm Hg.

How to Apply HIIT

With HIIT training, you’re are going to go “all out” at a high intensity for short amounts of time.  You then do an ‘active recovery’ rest for a short interval. You can apply this technique to any kind of exercise, walking, running, jumping rope, cycling, and even weight training.

I prefer using a stationary bike to minimize injury. It is simply a great option to implement HIIT into your workouts.

Using the HIIT on a stationary bike

Warm-up for 5 minutes on a low setting.

After your 5 minute warm-up, increase the bike’s tension and pedal as fast as you can for 20 seconds. This is called the Sprint phase. After the 20-second sprint phase, lower the tension on the bike and comfortably pedal for 2 minutes.

This is one session of HIIT.

Repeat the above five times, and you are done.

Heart Recovery Tip

After doing your 20-second sprint, lower the tension and wait 60 seconds and check your pulse. You want your elevated pulse to come down between 8-10 beats. This is your heart recovery zone. If your pulse does not come down 8-10 beats for some reason, you should stop and call it a day. For example, after you do your all-out sprint for 20 minutes, your heart rate goes up to 110 beats. After one minute of decreasing the tension and comfortably pedaling, your heart rate should come down to 100-102 beats. That is a good heart recovery.

Although, as I mentioned above, I prefer the stationary bike, this can be applied to walking as well. Simply walking at a comfortable pace for 5 minutes, then do an all-out “brisk” walk for 20 seconds. Walking comfortably for 2 minutes, then repeat five times.

That is all you need to do to maximize this effective form of exercise (HIIT) to lower your blood pressure.

Understanding the Delta Variant

Since the start of COVID, there has been a shortage of understanding of the pandemic.

We’ve had confusion, misinformation, repeated updates, reversals and revisions of recommendations, etc.

This understanding deficit has continued with the rise of the delta variant. I’ve been hard-pressed to find solid, actionable information myself. For you, it may have been all but impossible.

So when I found this article, I was excited to see all the current and essential information compressed into a single piece, written by Dr. J. Stacey Klutts, who is “Special Assistant to the National Director of Pathology and Lab Medicine for the entire Veterans Affairs system, with a specific role in advising on elements of COVID testing for the system.”

You may read the original article if you like, but I’ve pulled out the highlights that you need to know in this post in case you don’t have the time (or stomach) to read the full article.

Why Delta is YOUR Problem

When a disease has “high or substantial community spread” in over 90% of the counties in the US, you’ll need to pay attention and take action.

Delta is so contagious that you are highly likely to get sick, vaccinated or not unless you understand how to avoid it and take effective, consistent, and long-term actions.

Getting sick with Delta is equal-opportunity. Kids, infants, teens, young adults, middle-aged and the elderly are all contracting this variant in huge numbers.

And no, you really, really don’t want to get sick with this disease.

The Facts:

1: Delta is stickier and much more effective in attaching to and gaining entry into human cells. “If the original COVID strains were covered in syrup, this variant is covered in ultrafast-drying Gorilla Super Glue (industrial strength).”

2: Delta has 1,000 times the “viral load” (number of particles that can “shed” and make others sick) than previous variants.

3: Delta is SO much more contagious than previous COVID that it’s an entirely different pandemic event. “R0” (pronounced “R aught”) is the measurement of how infectious a disease is. An R2 means that one infected person is likely to infect two others. Original COVID was about an R2. Delta is an R6.5 – R8. “In the infectious disease world, that’s almost unheard of. Chickenpox and measles are about all we have ever seen that spread that efficiently from human to human. This changes the storyline completely from earlier in the pandemic.”

4: Delta can spread through vaccinated people. But much less efficiently. Here’s a great explanation of this, which is one of those areas I’ve had difficulty finding good information about:
Take Away: A vaccinated person can become infected fairly easily with Delta (the vaccine does provide some protection against infection), but the person is only is infectious for a couple of days afterward.
Why this is true lies in the different types of COVID antibodies that your body uses to fight the disease. The antibody called “IgA” prevents the virus from ever binding to your cells in the first place. The “IgG” antibody is triggered when the virus is detected by your body and prevents you from becoming very ill or ill at all.
ALL COVID VACCINES CAUSE YOUR BODY TO PRODUCE IgG ANTIBODIES, NOT IgA.
Therefore, if vaccinated, you can become infected almost as fast as the nonvaccinated person standing next to you, but you are MUCH less likely to get sick, or at least very sick.
Where things change is in HOW LONG you are contagious to others.
For the first few days, you are JUST AS CONTAGIOUS AS A NONVACCINATED PERSON. Then, the IgG antibodies from the vaccination kick in and wipe out the virus, and you’re no longer contagious.
A nonvaccinated person continues to be contagious for at least ten days from the first symptoms.
Take away: If you’re vaccinated and get COVID, you will be contagious for only a couple of days, and you are extremely unlikely to go to the hospital or die. Currently, less than 5% of COVID hospitalizations are vaccinated.

5: Original COVID largely spared young people and small children, but not Delta. Children’s hospitals are starting to fill up.

What to Do:

• Really, seriously consider getting vaccinated. Here are references that I’ve been giving to my patients to do their research when they’re worried about the vaccine:
  Article: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/i-m-black-doctor-who-didn-t-trust-covid-vaccine-ncna1255085?cid=sm_npd_nn_fb_tk
  Video: https://twitter.com/scientistswanda/status/1335988328362090500 
• Wear a mask indoors with anyone not in your family and outdoors in any crowd. Delta has been documented to be passed between two people who simply walked past each other.
  Queensland’s chief health officer, Jeannette Young quote: “with the Delta variant, we’re seeing very fleeting contact leading to transmission. At the start of this pandemic, I spoke about 15 minutes of close contact being a concern. Now it looks like it’s five to 10 seconds that’s a concern. The risk is so much higher now than it was only a year ago.”
• Wash or sanitize your hands
• Avoid crowds, especially indoors, even with a mask.
• Boost your immune system to improve your outcome if you do get sick.
• Get tested before doing anything where you could pass COVID to someone else. Here are some home tests, and a link to make an appointment (free) for a drive-through test in Georgia:
• Walmart Test: https://www.walmart.com/ip/BinaxNOW-COVID-19-Antigen-Self-Test-2-Tests/142089281
• Target Test: https://www.target.com/p/ellume-covid-19-rapid-antigen-home-test/-/A-83685429
• Georgia drive-through test signup: https://viralsolutionsga.com/

I hope this helps. Maybe next week I can find a more uplifting subject to write about, but I feel that this is critically important information for you to have.