Hypertension and Exercise

Regular exercise can bring about numerous health benefits:

• Lower blood pressure (systolic by about 7 mmHg and diastolic by about 5 mmHg)
• Reduce risks of developing heart diseases, diabetes mellitus, high cholesterol and stroke.
• Increase longevity
• Maintain ideal body weight
• Reduce depression
• Strengthen muscles and bones

Do you know…

It has been shown that exercise could help reduce blood pressure by a few mmHg. In the long run, one can improve health by doing regular exercise for better weight management, mental stress release and prevention of diabetes and heart diseases. Although your blood pressure cannot return to normal by just taking exercises, the odds of developing coronary heart disease or stroke can be drastically lowered. Besides, regular exercise may help you reduce the dosage of medicine despite it cannot be completely abstained.  

How much exercise do you need?

Taking the recommendations on physical activity for adults issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), you should do at least two days (non-consecutive) of muscle-strengthening activities and at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity per week, respectively. Although studies revealed that physical activity can be beneficial to health, some hypertensive patients may not be able to completely follow the above recommendations because of other health risk factors. Therefore, patients with hypertension should consult their family doctor before starting an exercise programme. It is to ensure if they are suitable for the recommended amounts of exercise in terms of type, frequency and duration; and provide appropriate adjustments.

Exercise precautions for patients with hypertension

• If you have been physically inactive for long time, start with light intensity exercise first. Gradually increase the amount after you have adhered at the exercise programme for several weeks or months.  
• Avoid doing muscle-strengthening exercises in isometric form because it will boost up blood pressure. Isometric exercise refers to a static contraction of muscle activity in which muscles contract in the way that does not cause any joints movements. The wall stretching exercise (for calf) is a typical example of isometric exercise.       
• Do not engage in vigorous exercise if your blood pressure is uncontrolled.
• Some anti-hypertensive medicines could adversely affect the regulation of body temperature and blood glucose. As a result, risk of getting heat stroke and low-blood-glucose (hypoglycaemia) will be increased. Therefore, it is recommended that patients on anti-hypertensive medication should refrain from doing physical activity or exercise when they are hungry and dehydrated. In addition, they should pay particular attention to any signs and symptoms of heatstroke (e.g. profuse sweating, thirsty, chest-discomfort and unusual fatigue) and low-blood-glucose (e.g. cold sweating, shaking, hands tingling and feeling hungry) during exercise.
• Some anti-hypertensive drugs can induce low blood pressure after exercise because of the vasodilating effect to blood vessels. Extending the cool-down period following exercise is therefore suggested for them.
• Some hypertensive patients may also have risk factors of heart diseases. It is strongly recommended that they should pay attention to the signs of heart attack such as palpitation or chest discomfort during exercising.