Decreasing Blood Pressure is Within Your Control

I was biking on Labor Day on a local bike path. Beautiful path and a gorgeous day! At the end of the ride, I was packing up my bike and began a conversation with people in the car beside me. In the course of the conversation with this middle-aged couple, the man indicated that he had gotten off almost all of his blood pressure medications by making some changes in lifestyle. It got me thinking...
Coming from a family history of heart disease, I am a bit more sensitive to anything that increases my risk for some coronary event. As a personal trainer, I can help people who have high blood pressure through working with them on their eating habits and exercise/activity levels. Even if you are not a personal trainer, this is valuable information to know for your own "good".
You and I can actually control, through our lifestyle choices, many of the things that will help us decrease the risk of this number one cause of death in our country - coronary artery disease.
Chances are you have heard that high blood pressure, a risk factor for coronary disease, is the silent killer. It receives this designation b/c there are no signs or symptoms suggestive of hypertension or high blood pressure. Most people don't know that they have high blood pressure.
Blood pressure increases with age. A "normal" blood pressure would be ?120/80 mm Hg. If the top number in this fraction, the systolic blood pressure is ?140 mm Hg or if the bottom number in this fraction, the diastolic blood pressure is ?90 mm Hg, then you need to take note. This situation, where either number is equal or greater than what I have indicated, is Stage 1 hypertension. In this case, action needs to be taken.
Lifestyle modifications are advocated for prevention, treatment, and control of hypertension. Exercise and eating are two lifestyle options that we can modify and which will help in decreasing blood pressure. Personally I can facilitate these changes in my own life and, if working with clients as a personal trainer, it is within my scope of practice to help them with an exercise/activity program and a modification in their eating choices. Certainly, I would want to collaborate with the client's doctor especially if the client was on blood pressure medications and/or was Stage 2 or 3 hypertensive.
The American College of Sports Medicine (http://www.acsm-msse.org/pt/pt-core/template-journal/msse/media/0304.pdf) suggests exercise as the "cornerstone therapy" for primary prevention, treatment and control of hypertension. Their exercise prescription for those with high blood pressure includes a frequency of most, if not all, days per week of primarily endurance physical activity supplemented with resistance exercise. The activity/exercise should be moderate intensity (12-13 on Borg's RPE scale; 64-70% of Max HR). The goal is? 30 minutes of continuous or accumulated activity/exercise per day.
With this regimen, researchers have found that BP will decrease approximately 5-7 mm Hg after an isolated exercise session (acute) or after exercise training (chronic). Even better...decreases of 22 mm Hg in either the systolic or diastolic blood pressure will decrease the risk of stroke by 14% and 17%, respectively. The risk of coronary disease decreases by 9% and 6%, respectively, in the general population.
Exercise IS medicine! One other way to decrease blood pressure through lifestyle change is through following a particular eating plan - the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan - and to decrease the amount of sodium consumed.
The DASH eating plan has been proven to lower blood pressure in studies sponsored by the National Institute of Health. The eating plan involves the consumption of more fruits and vegetables, and low-fat or non-fat dairy. The most favorable results have occurred in people with pre-hypertension (120-130 mm Hg systolic; 80-90 diastolic) or Stage 1 hypertension. For more information, look at: http://mybloodpressurefix.com
How do you decrease sodium consumption to the 1500 milligram recommended level?
Try getting away from any processed and packaged foods which have lots of sodium to help preserve the contents. Don't eat out so often - lots of processes foods with high sodium content here. Attempt to decrease your desire to salt your foods.
Speaking personally, I like to have many things within my control. Now, I wouldn't describe myself as a control "freak" but I do like to know that I can control my physical activity and exercise levels and my eating habits to make a difference in my own health and happiness!
The good news...YOU can too!

Kim Fischer, Ph.D., ACSM cPT and owner of Empowered By Learning LLC, created the ACSM Certified Personal Trainer Exam Preparation workshop and accompanying Study Guide and Action Plan for Passing the ACSM Personal Trainer Certification Exam to support people in reaching their goal of becoming a certified personal trainer by the "gold standard" organization in the industry. Kim guarantees that workshop participants will pass the exam or their next workshop is free. Learn more about how to simplify and organize the process and the content for the ACSM Certified Personal Trainer Exam by getting a free http://mybloodpressurefix.com

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