Lower Your Blood Pressure with Walking

Walking has so many health benefits. Among them is the ability to help lower your blood pressure and strengthen your heart. Many people at risk for stroke and heart disease are overweight, eat unhealthy, and end up having a hard time exercising. Thankfully, walking is an easy, low-impact workout that almost anyone can do, anytime, anywhere.

The hardest part about walking for health and exercise is starting. But the good news is you don’t even have to leave your house if you don’t want to. Put in a walking DVD and just move.

If all you can do is walk and move for five to ten minutes, that is okay. It’s a great start and that’s a lot more exercise than you’ve been getting. Stick with it for a week and then see if you can make it for 15 minutes. Track your progress so it doesn’t seem like nothing is happening.

If you can go for 30 minute walk, start there. Pick up the pace, walk briskly and after a week or two, increase you walks to 45 minutes. You can also break up your walking workout into 2-3 shorter sessions interspersed throughout your day to make it easier to transition to walking.

If you have any health conditions, and in particular, if you’re suffering from high blood pressure and are at risk for heart disease, discuss your walking plans with your doctor. Together you can come up with a plan that’s appropriate and safe for you.

Lower Your Blood Pressure with Walking

Getting out and walking will help you on several different levels. The act of walking itself, particularly if you can go for a walk out in a pretty park, is very relaxing and will lower your blood pressure soon after the walk. That’s a terrific benefit of walking and something that will help you feel better right away. But the benefits don’t stop there.

The regular exercise will strengthen your heart. Remember your heart is a muscle and going for a brisk walk works out more than your leg muscles. As you work out your heart, it gets stronger and better at pumping blood through your body. As you strengthen your muscles and your body overall, you are likely losing body fat. That’s good news for your blood pressure long term.

All it takes is heading out there for a short little walk each day. As you get stronger those walks will get longer and you may even find that you want to branch off into other exercises eventually too.

Healthy diet, regular exercise, and losing weight are some of the most effective ways to reduce hypertension. Add to that the fact that walking helps you de-stress and it’s no wonder that walking regularly has such beneficial effects on your health.

Ready to get started? Put on your shoes and go for that first walk. You can lower your blood pressure with walking on a regular basis. Lets do it!