Essentrics can Lower Blood Pressure

Essentrics can help you in so many ways…improved posture, relief from chronic pain, increased flexibility and range of motion, to name a few. Lowing blood pressure has not been listed.

Yet…

I have began to notice a pattern. If I complete a short Essentrics workout (15-30 minutes) and eat breakfast (a healthy one, of course), my blood pressure is lower (sys. number 10-15 points less) than if I get up and take my blood pressure before exercise and breakfast.

A fluke?

Maybe? So I started to research…

 Although aerobic exercise is the most recommended mode of exercise for reducing blood pressure, a number of recent studies indicate that stretching can reduce arterial stiffness, improve blood flow, and increase activation of the parasympathetic nervous system, resulting in reduced blood pressure. When muscles are stretched, blood vessels are also stretched, and this may lead to structural changes in blood vessels or release of vasodilating metabolites. Such changes may result in the reduction of arterial stiffness, resistance to blood flow, and blood pressure.

Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 2021, 18, 21-28
https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2020-0365

If stretching helps reduce stiffness in our arteries, then we are going to want to stretch them all! Each Essentrics routine works the full body-every muscle and joint and all the arteries. So it is Essentrics for the lower blood pressure win!

A warning though the research did show if you stopped stretching the benefit of lower blood pressure did not last.

Try it

If you are struggling with high blood pressure, try this for a week. Find a 15-30 minute Essentrics workout on YouTube or do a Classical Stretch workout on PBS everyday, eat your breakfast, wait 30 minutes after eating and see if your blood pressure is lower. I would love to hear your results.

Sherry