Swimming to Lower Your Blood Pressure

The Best Way To Lower Your Blood Pressure

The best and most effective way to lower high blood pressure naturally is through exercise. Many studies have examined exercises like walking, jogging/running, and bicycling.

They found that each of these workouts can lead to a significant reduction in blood pressure. However,not many studies have looked at the connection of water exercise or swimming and blood pressure.

Now we do know that exercise helps reduce blood pressure, and causes weight loss. So we could surmise that water aerobics could lower your blood pressure.

But some studies have suggested that swimming might not be all that effective in reducing resting blood pressure. Partly because the blood pressure of trained swimmers, as a whole, is higher than the blood pressure of other endurance athletes.

Swimming has many health benefits, including lowering blood pressure. Here is a short video about the health benefits of swimming:

Studies on swimming and blood pressure

A study was done to investigate the effects of a 10-week water aerobic exercise on the resting blood pressure in patients with stage 1 or 2 hypertension referring to Tehran University Clinics.

Forty men with stage 1 or 2 essential hypertension were assigned to two groups. The intervention group and the control group. Subjects in the intervention group participated in a supervised 10-week water aerobic training program.

The program consisted of 55 min sessions, 3 days per week on alternate days. While those in the control group were not involved in any regular training program during this period. Blood pressure of the participants was recorded and compared at the beginning and at the end of the study.

Another study from 2010, researchers studied the effect of one year of swimming training on blood pressure and insulin sensitivity. The subjects went from 0 to 7 km per week of swimming.

What They Found

The data suggested that a 10-week course of water aerobic exercises (including swimming training) reduces the systolic and mean arterial blood pressure of the participants by 12 points.

Based on this study, a 10-week water aerobic exercise has an impressive effect on the resting systolic blood pressure in individuals with hypertension.

Similar results were shown in the 1 year study. where swimming training significantly lowered SBP by approximately 17 mmHg.

Conclusion

Exercise as a lifestyle modification can be recommended for all individuals with hypertension. Even small reductions in blood pressure are associated, in long-term, with a reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases.

If you suffer from hypertension or cardiovascular disease, water workouts are a fun way to exercise your heart. This helps lower high blood pressure naturally. If you don’t have a pool of your own, consider joining your local YMCA or a gym that has an indoor pool.

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