Thursday, January 12, 2012

How to Keep Yourself Cool in Workouts With High Blood Pressure?


People with high blood pressure overheat more easily than people with normal blood pressure, according to an August 2009 article published on the website of KSDK-TV in St. Louis. Wearing too many clothes increases your risk, too. When you exercise, you naturally raise your body temperature. Combining exercise, too many clothes and high blood pressure may be dangerous. Consult your doctor before working out if you have high blood pressure.
BENEFITS
Despite the risks, exercise is beneficial for controlling high blood pressure. Thirty minutes of regular, moderate cardio exercise helps lower blood pressure and decrease strain on your heart. Exercise helps in weight loss and improves circulation, which lowers your risk of a blood clot that could cause a heart attack. Exercise also raises your level of HDL, or good cholesterol. Moderate exercise is hard enough that you can't sing while doing it, but you should be able to carry on a conversation. Although yoga is often light-intensity exercise, it may also help keep blood pressure low by reducing stress.
HEAT EXHAUSTION
Working out with too many layers on increases your risk of heat exhaustion, especially if you have high blood pressure, because of the increased risk of overheating. Heat exhaustion is a condition resulting from your body becoming too hot. This can progress to heatstroke if it becomes severe. Heatstroke is potentially fatal. Overdressing in one of the main causes of heat exhaustion, along with strenuous exercise, hot weather and dehydration. Alcohol also increases your risk by reducing your body's ability to control your temperature.
KEEPING COOL
It's harder for people with high blood pressure to keep cool. Not only do they get hot more easily but many blood-pressure medications also interfere with the body's ability to handle heat well. Your body naturally works to keep your body temperature down. Sweating helps to cool your body. The sweat then evaporates off your skin, which regulates your body temperature. Covering your skin with layers of clothing prohibits this evaporation. Exercising intensely also makes it hard for sweat to cool you down. Drinking water and moving to a cooler area staves off heat exhaustion.
GUIDELINES
Following exercise guidelines make working out safer if you have high blood pressure. MayoClinic.com recommends that you warm up gradually before a workout to slowly increase your heart rate and body temperature. Also, cool down after workouts to slowly bring your heart rate and temperature down. Avoid exercising in hot weather, especially if you have high blood pressure and heart disease. Work out in the morning or evening and avoid wearing too many layers of clothes. Stop exercising if you feel dizzy, excessively fatigued or short of breath; have chest pain; or feel pain in your jaw or arm.

 
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