Posted on July 10, 2014 by Kate Halsall

Have you ever been to the doctors and had your blood pressure taken and stared blankly at the numbers on the monitor? Have you ever wondered why as part of our Body MOT packages, we take your blood pressure? Do you even know what your blood pressure should be? What are the do’s and don’t’s for exercise and hypertension? What is hypertension? Is this too many questions to ask at the start of a blog?!!

Blood Pressure – Using the Force!
In the simplest terms, blood pressure is the rate at which the heart pumps the blood around the body.
Systolic – or the highest reading you see, is the rate at which the heart is pumping the blood
Diastolic – the smallest number, is when the heart is at rest before it pumps again

If the Systolic reading is <100 and the Diastolic is <60 – this is Low Blood Pressure
Normal Blood Pressure has a Systolic reading between 100-140, and the Diastolic between 60-90
High Blood Pressure – or Hypertension – is when the Systolic reading is >140 and the Diastolic reading >100

So why do we take your blood pressure during an MOT? One of the reasons is that hypertension symptoms are largely non-existent. You could be suffering with High Blood Pressure and not even realise it….this is why hypertension has the nickname ‘the silent killer’. Is this a bad thing? In the long term, absolutely (hence the nickname)- over time your heart will thicken and stiffen, you have an increased risk of cardiovasular disease, stroke and ultimately a heart attack. Sounds dramatic doesn’t it! But we have to be cruel to be kind and tell it how it is! There are some small lifestyle changes that you could make today in order to reduce your risk of having hypertension, or to lower your blood pressure, see one of our previous blogs : http://www.m8north.co.uk/blog/5-ways-control-blood-pressure-without-medication/

Essentially the biggest message here, and the purpose of this blog after all, is that you can still exercise – in fact, studies have shown positive effects of exercise for both treatment and preventing hypertension. There are some guidelines that we would recommend that you take into consideration though in relation to exercise and hypertension:

DO:
Some type of moderate intensity aerobic activity for a minimum of 30 minutes 5-7 days per week
Supplement your cardio workouts with 2-3 resistance training workouts per week (not on consecutive days)
Focus on a whole body approach

DONT:
Go all out on your cardio components
Focus on isometric contractions as they can raise your blood pressure
Include too many overhead presses or exercises which involve getting down and up again for the same reason as above
Just use resistance as your only form of exercise

So no excuses – go and have a great workout!

Other Reading:
http://www.uspharmacist.com/content/d/featured%20articles/c/26628/
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/what-is-blood-pressure.aspx