Читать книгу High Blood Pressure: Natural Self-help for Hypertension, including 60 recipes - Michelle Berriedale-Johnson - Страница 16

Lack of exercise is an important cause of high blood pressure. Inactivity means the heart is unfit, despite having to work extra hard to pump blood around the increased bulk of the body. People who exercise for at least 20–30 minutes, three times per week, have a lower risk of high blood pressure, stroke, obesity and coronary heart disease than those who are physically inactive.

To be beneficial, exercise needs to be brisk enough to raise your pulse rate, produce a light sweat and to make you slightly breathless. Unfortunately, the average level of physical activity in the UK is low. Only 30 per cent of men and 20 per cent of women are active enough to gain some protection against high blood pressure. One survey among adult males found that one in five had taken no exercise at all during the preceding month. Although exercise increases the amount of blood pumped through the heart by up to 700 per cent, and puts BP up during the period of exercise itself, this is a healthy, temporary response.

Taking regular exercise helps to prevent high blood pressure by:

burning off stress hormones that trigger arterial spasm in small blood vessels

dilating peripheral veins

increasing the efficiency of your cardiovascular system so your pulse rate falls

boosting the muscle pump action of your skeletal muscles

lowering blood fat levels

reducing the risk of atherosclerosis.

For more information, see Chapter 21.