Today is another day in these free series of “WALK WITH ME” and the topic of today is how walking lowers blood pressure.
During these challenging times of the Corona-virus threat I would like to invite you to go on a daily walk with me to stay healthy and positive. If you are still allowed to go outside then do so! If not you can walk with me on a treadmill of in place in front of your TV watching your favourite show. If you have a stationary bike that is fine also. As long as I can get you moving.
As long as necessary I will keep encouraging you to walk with me cause walking has sooo many benefits. Everyday I will motivate you by sharing one of these benefits to inspire you to walk with me. Follow me on facebook @takeyoutimeblog and instagram @takeyoutimeblog (or click the icons above) and let me help you to stay healthy, fit and positive during times of Corona. NOTE: I have decided last week that I am not going to mention the number of days I have been encouraging you throughout these quarantaine times. I will keep on posting but in order to stay positive I do not want to count days with you.
If you have been diagnosed with high blood pressure, your arteries are under a lot of unhealthy pressure. This can lead to damage to your heart resulting in a heart attack, kidney failure and a stroke.
Often a patient gets a subscription of a blood pressure lowering medicine but there are many ways you can naturally lower blood pressure. Prescription drugs can help and I am not advising you to ignore your doctor’s prescription. I just want to tell you there are more ways to reach your goals and yes… they will involve some work. Getting more exercise and watching your diet by eating the right foods are some of the natural remedies. We will go over them in this article. But how are exercise and high blood pressure and exercise connected? Regular walking and physical activity in general simply make your heart stronger. A stronger heart can move around more blood with less effort. Your heart has to do less pumping, decreasing unhealthy pressure on your arteries and so lowering your blood pressure.
Walking
Brisk walking is the perfect aerobic exercise to lower high blood pressure. It is shown to lower systolic blood pressure (the upper range of the pressure). A minimum of 30 minutes of brisk walking is recommended. I do advise to work your way to 2 walking breaks of each 30 minutes. Get in more walking by:
- doing your shopping on foot
- walk your kids to school
- take a walking lunchbreak
- do your phone calls when walking outside or walking in place
- …
Muscle training
Combining walking with strength training ads to that positive, blood pressure lowering effect. And you get a more toned body!
Less sit-ins
Make it a habit to stand up every 30 minutes. Avoid uninterrupted sitting for long periods and get your body moving every now and then. You can get up and take the stairs for a bathroom break on another level of the building you work in or you do some stretching or walk in place.
What’s salt got to do with it?
The most important food you need to avoid is excess salt, especially regular table salt. There is still way too much salt in the processed, ready-made food to go in your average supermarket. (frozen pizza, canned soup, crisps, deli meat,…)
So start eating fresh food and when seasoning it choose herbs, onions, garlic and pepper and add a minimum of natural, unrefined sea salt. This form of sea salt makes food taste that much better and apart from its main content which is sodium chloride, it also contains trace minerals like potassium, iron and zinc. Potassium helps to temper some of sodium’s more potentially dangerous health effects by helping the kidneys to excrete excess sodium. When you think about blood pressure, your kidneys may not have crossed your mind yet. But these organs play a crucial role in regulating blood pressure because every day they filter your blood from toxins and help to excrete excess salt and water. Eating too much refined table salt can make it harder for your kidneys to remove that excess fluid, which builds up in your arteries and increases your blood pressure.
Change your diet and start walking with me for better overall health!
Big (virtual) hug and stay safe!
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