Cycling For Hypertension

Cycling – An Aerobic Exercise
For Hypertension

The benefits of exercise for hypertension are numerous. Cycling is one of the best to engage in to drop your blood pressure, reduce your waistline, and make you feel good.

I am getting my bike back out of the shed where it has been gathering dust for quite some time now. It needs a bit of TLC, but I’ll soon have it up and running. Really, it should have seen the light of day sooner, because this sedentary occupation of sitting at my computer day in and day out, building this website, is now beginning to tell on me.

Overweight is one of the main causes of high blood pressure, and it looks like I am approaching the borderline, so I need to take immediate action and “get on my bike”.

Cycling – An Effective Exercise?

How effective is biking it in comparison to other exercises in helping to reduce blood pressure?

The intensity of effort is greater than walking which is a favourite exercise for effectively reducing high blood pressure. When walking we use from 45 to 50 percent of our maximal capacity, where as with cycling, we use 60 to 65 percent.

Also, there is less stress on the joints, and that can only be a plus for those of us with a few more pounds to carry around.

We can utilize it by opting to cycle to work instead of taking motorised transport, that way we are sure to get our exercise slotted into our routine. It is bound to save us money on health centres, travel passes and petrol.

For those of us, like myself, who are working from home – well, we`ll just have to exercise self-discipline.

It`s a great idea to have a home exercise cycle that you can use on intervals away from your work room, with a cycling workout video or cd to keep you motivated.

Cycling is an Aerobic Exercise

Riding a bike at 5.5miles per hour, can burn as much as 225 calories for every half hour. That`s why some who want to loose weight refer to it as calorie cycling.

It is an aerobic exercise that requires the heart to beat harder to get the needed oxygen to major muscles in the legs. Nitric oxide, a blood compound that helps dilate blood vessels and keep them clear, has been shown to increase during exercise. This could be the body’s mechanism for conditioning the blood vessels in readiness to accommodate the larger volume of blood. All in all, cycling produces those conditions that help support a healthy cardiovascular system.

Cycling used to be my method of transport at one time, but I’ve become acustomed to using the car, and therefor, I tend to be a bit lazy.

Swimming was also one of my favourite, regular exercises but I hate the use of chlorine, and can’t find a pool that uses alternative sanitary methods, like ozone.

As you can see from the photos, I thought I must be nearing 15 st. I got a shock when I weighed myself in today. I now weigh almost 15.5st!!!! My new routine of sedentary work has proven that I need to have a regular exercise program to stay healthy. That’s the heaviest I’ve ever been, so I am a candidate for showing an example to ward off hypertension and exercise regularly. I propose to start using my bike to keep my blood pressure under control. Now that I have committed myself, I will weigh-in again in 4 weeks from now and reveal the results. Let’s make it the 1st of July 2007.

July 2nd 2007 weigh-in

Good day everyone! Sorry, not much to report. My lame excuse was that it rained all of June in England. No lie! Check the weather forecast for England! Anyway, I weighed in just the same. I engaged in other ways to exercise but my effort wasn`t consistent enough. I must continue though and get into a good routine.

I am going to use an indoor exercise bike if the rain continues to keeps up, and also a machine where you work your legs and arms as if you are skiing.

Be safe

To be safe, don’t venture out too far until you have reached a certain fitness level, through regular, gentle exercise, and stick to the cycle lanes. Better still; if you can get maps to find some of the more scenic routes, you will enjoy the ride even more. Here in London we have cycle lanes which are on a par with Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Tokyo.

If you live in London and want to get the maps free, visit Transport for London website, click on cycles routes and fill the form in for free maps. Perhaps you folks from other parts of the globe have similar free goodies to encourage you to buy a bike, or if you have one, to get it out of the shed and dust it down. Yes, cycling is a nice way to cure high blood pressure naturally and kinder to this environmentally conscious age don’t you think? Oh, and remember! For health and safety, those of you who have bikes don’t forget to get it serviced before you venture out on the road.

Cycling and the Feel-Good Factor

I think I am going to feel great by the time July comes around, and it’s not just because I will be shaping up. Did you know that regular exercise, like bike riding, triggers the release of chemicals called endorphins in the brain? These chemicals enhance your mood and that in turn should encourage more enthusiasm to exercise.

High blood pressure is caused mostly through life style. It’s good to know these facts but it will only be of benefit to you if you get “on your bike” mate! As they say here in London!

Gem.

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