Having high blood pressure, or hypertension, puts you at a much higher risk for stroke, heart attacks and heart failure.

The stats say that about half of you listening right now have high blood pressure, and it’s the cause of 1.3 million visits to the ER every year.

Apart from some of the most obvious lifestyle changes, are there any specific exercises or exercise strategies that can actively lower blood pressure?

Surprisingly, the answer is yes.

High Blood Pressure

Having high blood pressure, or hypertension, puts you at a much higher risk for stroke, heart attacks and heart failure.

The stats say that about half of you listening right now have high blood pressure, and it’s the cause of 1.3 million visits to the ER every year.

Apart from some of the most obvious lifestyle changes, are there any specific exercises or exercise strategies that can actively lower blood pressure?

Surprisingly, the answer is yes.

It runs in the family…

My dad has genetically high blood pressure. His mom had it, he has it, my sister has it. He has been taking meds for years for his blood pressure.

A few months ago, I was chatting with him about something different, something random, and I taught him how to do this one simple exercise.

He came back and said, “Megan, that exercise you taught me, it dramatically lowered my blood pressure.”

What?

I just taught him how to box breathe.

Hypertension: NOT a small problem.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is not a small problem. About half of you listening right now have hypertension.

Here are some interesting stats for ya according to the CDC:

• Approximately 48% of adults have high blood pressure, and that number goes up with age. About 55% in those 40-59 years old.
• It’s a bit more common in men, but the stats for women are still quite high.
• Every year, 56.8 million visits to the doctor have hypertension as the primary diagnosis and 1.3 million visits to the ER are due to hypertension

When it comes to cardiovascular disease, hypertension is a major risk factor. So lowering blood pressure should be a big priority, since it has been shown to decrease the incidences of stroke, heart attack, and heart failure.

Lowering Your Blood Pressure Through Lifestyle Changes

So, obviously medication does work. And if you have been prescribed blood pressure medication by your doctor, do NOT listen to this episode and decide to just stop taking your meds. This episode is not a substitute for medical advice from your doctor.

However, we know without a shadow of doubt that making lifestyle changes can have a huge impact on your blood pressure, especially if your blood pressure is borderline.

• Eating healthier: eating less processed foods, less sodium, less alcohol - more fruits and vegetables
• Decreasing your stress, especially chronic stress in your life, or at least being proactive about managing your stress well
• Sleeping well - getting enough sleep at night can help to lower your blood pressure
• Maintaining a healthy body weight with healthy body fat levels and more muscle mass. Studies have shown that people with higher amounts of muscle mass on their body tend to lower blood pressure.
• Along those same lines exercise in general - regular physical activity, a balance of light, moderate and high intensity activity - improves the health and elasticity of your blood vessels.
  • AHA recommends about 2 1/2 hours of moderate physical activity per week or an 1 15 min of high intensity activity per week

But I want to hone in on the exercise piece and ask the question - ARE THERE SPECIFIC EXERCISES OR WAYS TO EXERCISE THAT CAN ACTUALLY LOWER YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE?

And the answer is yes.

Box breathing

• This has an instant impact on your blood pressure. Deep rhythmic breathing effects nervous system, sending signals to calm down your fight or flight response (sympathetic nervous system)
  • Fight or flight response (stress) increases your blood pressure
• How to do it: 4-4-4-4 breathing
  • Inhale for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, exhale for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4
• I recommend doing at least 4 rounds of box breaths, 4 times a day

Isometric exercises

• Now this is interesting. Studies have shown that when it comes to specific types exercises, isometric (or holding) exercises appear to be the most effective at lowering blood pressure. (All types work, but isometric appears to work the most. Read the full study here.)
• Examples:
  • Planks, holding a squat, holding a lunge position (I program this in a lot into my training programs, actually)
  • The idea is you’re just holding a flex
  • This doesn’t need to be your entire workout - but perhaps 3 or 4 of your exercises in your routine are isometrics.
• Some added benefits of isometric training:
  • Easy on the joints
  • Usually training your core muscles exactly how they’re needed most.

10 minute bouts of exercise

• Interestingly enough, doing 2 or 3 ten-minute bouts of exercise periodically throughout the day appears to have a better impact on your blood pressure than one continuous bout.
• Speculation about why:
  • A lot of this could be that many people might do one 30 minute workout, and then remain sedentary the rest of the day
  • Some of this could be that you’re asking to your blood vessels to step into action more frequently
• Examples of this:
  • If you already exercise for one long session, consider breaking it up
• or…
• • One 10 minute brisk walk in the morning
  • One 10 minute strength training session midday
  • One more 10 minute brisk walk in the evening

The good news…

The good news here is that you’re not helpless. There ARE some very simple things that you can do to naturally reduce your blood pressure, especially if it’s borderline and you don’t want to have to be taking meds.

• Make sure the big picture stuff is in place (managing your stress, nutrition, good sleep, getting into a regular rhythm of exercise)
• And then start implementing these 3 strategies every day:
  • Box breathing
  • Isometric strength training exercises
  • Break your routine up into 10 minute bouts

More Resources & Links

Podcast Episode 356. Is Stress Silently Killing You?

Podcast Episode 280. How To Combat Menopause Weight Gain and Belly Fat

Article about lowering blood pressure through exercise

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