Swimming Exercise
Good for the Heart
Good for the High Blood Pressure

Why is swimming exercise thought to be good for reducing high blood pressure?

When you swim you are engaging nearly every muscle in the body. This calls for a regular supply of oxygen, hence the name Aerobic Exercise. The heart has a much higher work load and the blood vessels need to dilate to accommodate the added volume of blood to get that oxygen there.

The Journal of Hypertension 1997 fixed their attention on the results of a swimming exercise, carried out at the Exercise Science Department, University of Tennessee-Knoxville – USA, on 18, stage 1 and 2 hypertensive men and women for 10 weeks.

The group was selected from people with previous sedentary lifestyles, 10 being engaged in a monitored swimming exercise, while the other group of 6 were just present for comparison.

It was noted that the swimmers` systolic pressure had dropped significantly from 150 +/- 5 to 144 +/- 4 mmHg, about 5% drop when they were seated and also about the same when they were lying down. Their diastolic pressure, when seated, changed but to a lesser degree.

The conclusion from the test was, “Swimming training elicits significant reductions in arterial blood pressure at rest in individuals with hypertension.”

It has also been proven that regular aerobic exercise such as swimming, lowers both systolic and diastolic blood pressure significantly and it stays down if the exercise is continued.

Have a weight problem? Swimming exercise is a good choice. Your joints will be spared the gravitational impact that the ground aerobic exercises inflict. Water has the same density as the body so your body weight is supported by it. With swimming exercise, people often think the faster you swim the more calories you will burn, the more weight you will loose.

Not so! The body cannot keep up with the delivery of oxygen that the muscles demand for that needed energy over a long period, so one tires out and burns fewer calories than if they kept up a steady pace, producing a steady supply of oxygen, and so burn more calories. If your pace is too slow you won`t burn the calories. Wonderful! Isn’t it?

The muscles have a large part to play in swimming exercise and other aerobic exercise to achieve cardiovascular benefits.

Doctors and research teams of Sports Medicine know that when muscles are larger and stronger, the heart stroke becomes stronger to pump a larger volume of oxygenated blood to those muscles, but to do this, the heart also needs in return, more blood volume in order to keep up the supply, so heart contractions are stronger. The body adjusts to this action and decreases the resistance of blood vessels and arteries which lowers systolic and diastolic pressure.

Nutrition – Swimming After My Juice Fast

Before embarking on a 7 day fruit and vegetable juice fast, I visited the pool for the first time after a long departure from swimming. I found I was exhausted after a few lengths. I began the fast and stuck to it with no complications. On my last day of the fast before I broke it in the evening, I visited the pool again for another swim. To my surprise I managed to do 30 lengths non-stop, which took me roughly 30 minutes. I was astounded at how much energy I had. Although I could have continued on, I thought it was better not to in case I sustained muscle injury. Moral of this story is, eat the right foods!

So take time to think this through. If the body does all of this naturally to accommodate stronger muscles with more work load, then a regular routine of swimming exercise, that suits your muscle build and other factors taken into consideration, will result in a steady muscle build, helping you to do a more intensive workout, and conclusively benefit your cardiovascular health.

I just love writing this page!

This is one reason why having a doctor who recognizes that different individuals need different exercise programs, will be more beneficial than a doctor who just tells you that you should exercise.

Other benefits of swimming to help lower high blood pressure are –

  • Swimming exercise improves your body’s use of oxygen without overworking your heart.
  • It improves cardiovascular conditioning, such as toning up varicose veins
  • While toning and strengthening muscles, it also adds cosmetic benefits to your physique.(a little incentive)
  • Swimming is an endurance exercise, also adding to the health of the heart and arteries.
  • Swimming exercise develops flexibility, reducing tension in this, and other kinds of exercise.
  • Reduced tension reduces stress and anxiety, other bad factors that can cause high blood pressure….and while I`m on the subject of reduced tension, did you know that swimming has great psychological effects? Learn all about the benefits of swimming here at www.enjoy-swimming.com.If you are only a learner and need to build up to the fitness level that will make your swimming an aerobic exercise, why not add cycling, or stationary cycling if you can’t ride a bike, as a supplementary exercise and alternate with the swimming. This kind of exercise will also help those who have a weight problem by saving the bones and joints from heavy impact that can cause damage.