In recent years, with the increase of life pressure and the change of diet structure, patients with hypertension have gradually shown a younger trend.
Due to the symptoms brought by hypertension, including headache, dizziness, vertigo and so on, many patients will feel [with hypertension, I can no longer exercise], thus giving up the sharp weapon to defeat hypertension in vain.
Can’t you exercise with hypertension?
Hypertension patients can also continue to exercise.
Proper exercise can not only eliminate pressure, expand blood vessels and improve elasticity, but also help the body discharge waste and salt to achieve the purpose of lowering blood pressure.
Therefore, in order to control hypertension stably, we need to add appropriate amount of exercise to help our body recover in addition to planning diet, taking medicine on time and measuring our physical condition regularly.
However, although it is very good to increase sports, we still need to pay attention to several points:
1. To combine their own and external conditions, choose low-intensity sustainable sports.
2. With appropriate strength training as an aid.
3. Step by step, don’t force your body to speed up [treatment].
Which exercises are suitable for middle-aged and elderly hypertension patients?
Common aerobic exercises suitable for middle-aged and elderly hypertension patients mainly include:
- Fast walking, jogging, cycling, Taijiquan, square dancing, examination paper kicking and diabolo shaking; Small ball games: such as table tennis, badminton and gateball.
However, if you have knee joint pain at the same time, you can give priority to fast walking, swimming, elliptical machine training and cycling with less resistance.
However, areas with heavy smog are not suitable for outdoor activities. You can walk fast or jog, swim and table tennis on indoor treadmills.
The exercise intensity is kept so that you can breathe and speak basically normally.
If you have nausea, dizziness, chest pain, shortness of breath, violent heart beating and other phenomena during exercise, it means that the intensity is too high and your body needs to rest for a while.
Is aerobic exercise enough?
Aerobic exercise is good, but if it is done too much for a long time, it may still lead to muscle loss and joint wear.
Therefore, we highly recommend strength training to increase muscle mass and improve the strength level of weak muscle groups. At the same time, strength training has effects on fat burning, weight loss, improvement of insulin resistance, etc., and is helpful for long-term improvement of blood pressure.
It is suggested to use aerobic exercise and strength training to control one’s blood pressure.
For example, aerobic exercise is like Jin Yong’s “Jianzong” of Huashan School, and strength training is like “Qi Zong”. Compared with the two, aerobic exercise (Jianzong) has fast effect but weak follow-up. Strength training (Qi Zong) is slow in effect but has sufficient stamina. Only by practicing both firm but gentle and controlling the sword with Qi can the legendary swordsman be able to do so.
For the middle-aged and the elderly, the more suitable strength training methods include dumbbells, elastic belts and unarmed fitness.
What needs to be mentioned is that for hypertension patients, static exercise must be avoided.
For example, when completing such actions as squatting against the wall and flat support, which require willpower to persist, people will often hold their breath uncontrollably, thus increasing vascular pressure and easily deteriorating their physical condition.
For strength training aimed at lowering blood pressure, the intensity level should be moderate.
We generally recommend using the intensity that can complete 12 ~ 15 movements for exercise.
For example, if you practice bending with 2.5 kg dumbbells, you can finish 15 at a time, and that 2.5 kg is your appropriate strength. If you can barely finish 8, then the weight strength is too high.
In addition, attention should be paid to the rhythm of breathing.
Don’t deliberately hold your breath in order to complete the action. A good breathing method is to exhale when exerting force and inhale when restoring.
Finally, for middle-aged and elderly friends, don’t be unable to move just because you know that you have hypertension and need rest. Follow the doctor’s advice and choose the most suitable exercise for you, and arrange a combination of warm-up, strength and aerobic training.
The time should not exceed 30 minutes, training three times a week, and light activities or rest at other times.