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Hypertension and physical exercise

It is known today that the sedentarism and the lack of physical exercise are a great condition for manifestation of a vast number of diseases, namely the cardiovascular ones. Increasingly, studies indicate that physical exercise is associated with the effects of blood pressure.

We understand that the blood circulation has the fate to reach all tissues and cells of the body, being that pressure on the walls of the arteries. This pressure, which is normal and even essential for the blood to reach its destination, is called "blood pressure" (HR). Imagining that the pressure on the arteries are like tubes: in a healthy state, the blood flows easily inside, not finding any obstacle along the path that travels to the cells.

However if the blood is under pressure, the heart has to try harder to make it circulate. In these cases, the effort can cause the muscle mass of the heart to increase, causing the volume of the heart to become larger, called hypertrophy. In the first instance, heart muscle enlargement is not a problem. However over time, this hypertrophy can lead to heart failure, angina pectoris or arrhythmia.

Currently, exercise is a transversal presence in the main clinical recommendations for the approach to cardiovascular diseases and, if properly implemented, also has a benefit described in the multiplicity of its risk factors in heart rate.

The type of exercise recommended for prescription in people with hypertension should preferably be aerobic exercise, such as walking or cycling, always associating with strength and resistance exercises, leading to an increase in muscle mass. The weekly frequency for the prescription should be, at least 4 times a week, ideally every day, as a duration per workout of 30 to 60 minutes continuously or sum of training per day. The intensity of these exercises should be mild to moderate, approximately 5-7 on the Borg scale.

In short, hypertension should not be considered as an irreversible disease, as well as, non-pharmacological treatment has benefits. And it is more than proven that, not only as prevention, but also for therapeutic purposes.