Walking can lower BP even among people with family history
PEOPLE with a family history of blood pressure can actually do something about it and that too without spending an extra penny. A new research suggests that if you do moderate exercises daily apart from brisk walking for 30 minutes, you can cut down the risk of getting a blood pressure despite the hereditary factors.
The results of the new study have shown that fitness can be so practical and healthful without much effort. A moderate amount of exercise that is walking for 30 minutes every day which amounts to about 150 minutes per week can be great for people who have a history of hypertension due to family history.
How does it work?
The reason why it is important to control blood pressure is that the heart needs extra effort to pump blood pressure through the arteries. This increases the size of the heart and you then get increased risks of heart attacks, kidney failure, stroke and atherosclerosis (buildup of plaque in the arteries).
Of course doctors will tell you to work seriously on your diet, cut sugar and rice, avoid fatty foods and too many carbohydrates and so on. However, all these things will not be enough if you don’t subject your body to a regular exercise or any physical activity.
Understand that one’s blood pressure is a measurement of the pressure of the blood flow in one’s arteries. Everyone has something called systolic blood pressure and the higher number tells us the pressure in our arteries when our heart is contracting and pumping blood out into the body. Opposite is the case with diastolic blood pressure. The lower number is the pressure in the arteries when the heart is relaxed.
Hence while we exercise or walk, our systolic blood pressure increases to improve blood flow, thus increasing available oxygen to the working muscles. Our blood vessels may also become more relaxed, or dilated and this allows for the increased blood flow.
The good news is that the new study has ruled out the effect of hereditary factors in at least lowering the blood pressure of a person. It clearly has stated that despite family history, if you start walking in your late 20s, you will reduce the risk of high blood pressure considerably.
Even older people who already are struggling with BP, can lower the risk by starting to walk every day, At the same time, if a person stops walking, say for a week, he or she would experience the old level of blood pressure. This means that every person with a blood pressure or having a family history of it, must make walking a regular habit. Nothing can be more valuable than health.
Meri Fitness 