You can reduce high blood pressure with certain breathing exercises. The term blood pressure refers to the pressure of blood circulation in the vein walls. When someone experiences high blood pressure, and hypertension than it means the blood force in veins is higher, especially, more than 130/80 mmHg.
Many factors can contribute to high blood pressure, including obesity, salty diet, smoking, stress, alcohol consumption, and family history. When you don’t or poorly manage blood, pressure can increase the risk of stroke, heart attack, heart disease, and other conditions.
Additionally, medication is one way to prevent high blood pressure, but you can also try some other ways like exercise and lifestyle. Exercise, limited salt consumption, a healthy diet, and stopping tobacco helps to reduce high blood pressure.
Here are some methods for lowering blood pressure. These are breathing techniques, which work on your cellular level to lower blood pressure and boost heart health.
How Breathing Exercise Work?
Table of Contents
The autonomic nervous system controls whole automatic bodily functions such as breathing rate, heart rate, and other functions of organs. There are two parts of this system.
- Sympathetic nervous system
- Parasympathetic nervous system.
The sympathetic nervous system is working as a fight-or-flight reflex. When this system is stimulated, the heart rate is raised and contract the blood vessels. Digestive effects get reduced, and adrenaline gets released.
The stimulation of this system is helpful when there is a physical threat, which happens from different stressors in their daily lives. However, this system gets activate many times. The prolonged activation of this system can cause many serious health problems such as arteries hardening, heart attacks, type 2 diabetes, chronic diarrhea, sexual impotence, and others.
The parasympathetic-nervous system work on digest and rest reflux. When this system gets stimulated, the breathing rate gets reduced. The heart rate also gets reduced, and blood vessels become dilated, which makes the blood lead to the extremities.
Slow and deep breathing helps to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps to reduce the heart rate and widen blood vessels. It lowers the overall blood pressure. As breathing get slower, your brain enters in a relaxation state, which makes your body to lower down other body functions like digestion. Take one moment and breathe deeply in stressful circumstances. In this way, train your body to calm down and face the challenges in everyday life. It helps to improve the overall heart health and help to clear your head.
Sama Vritti – Regular Breathing
It is a simple technique, and you can perform it anywhere and at any time. It helps to calm down and relax, which gradually gets down the blood pressure level.
How to do?
- Sit down on a yoga mat in a comfortable manner.
- Take some gentle breath and relax your body.
- Close the eyes and extend your hands outward, let them rest over your thighs in Gyan mudra.
- Inhale for 4-times.
- Exhale for 4-times.
- Breathe in for a count of 4.
- Breathe out for a count of 4.
- It makes one round, and you can gradually improve the breath in and breath out time to 8-counts.
- Do this exercise before sleeping to get effective benefits.
Bhastrika Pranayama (Bellows Breathing)
Bhastrika is a Sanskrit word that means bellows. It is a breathing workout, which looks like you are blowing bellows. It requires to do a deep breath in and breath out patterns. Make sure that you are flushing out with a sufficient oxygen level.
How to do?
- Take a padmasana position over the yoga mat and keep your spine erect.
- Extend out both hands and let rest them over your thighs.
- Raise your right-hand palms to pose into the pranayama.
- Close your one nostril with your thumb.
- Inhale deeply and breath out quickly with increased force from your left nostril for 10-minutes. If you are a beginner, then put your left hand over your abdomen to make sure your tummy moves are of the bellow.
- Again, breath in and breath out deeply from the left nostril.
- Do this for your right nostril.
- It makes one round of Bhastrika.
- Take rest of 30-seconds before repeating the exercise for 5-minutes.
Bhramari Pranayama (Hissing Bee Breathing)
Relax your mind with the hissing sound like a bee. It quickly controls high blood pressure. This breathing also relieves your migraines and headaches linked with hypertension.
How to do?
- Sit down in a padmasana pose with keeping the spine straight.
- Extend your both hands outward and let it rest on your thighs.
- Put your index fingers over the cartilages of the linked ears.
- Breath-in deeply and breath out by adding mild pressure over the cartilage while whispering, specifically high pitches like a bee.
- Breath in and do it again 7-10 times.
Kapalbhati Pranayama (Skull Cleansing)
It is one of the popular breathing methods that provides countless benefits. Maintain flat abs or soft throat or dip at a pressure level. You can depend on the Kapalbhati pranayama. Perform this exercise in the early morning with an empty stomach to get the effective benefits. It helps to detoxify your blood and make free from ailments such as hypertension. However, it is recommended to check with your doctor and yoga expert before doing this exercise.
How to do?
- Sit down over yoga mat in Padmasana, Vajrasana, or Sukhasana. If you are suffering from back pain, then make sure to have enough support to avoid more pain. Beginners can take help of wall to support their back and prevent pain induced from strong exhalations.
- Close the eyes and let your body relax and put your hand on your thigh in a Gyan
- With less focus on lower abs, immediately breathing, then revel in a strong, fast breath. Take at least 8-breath with a gap of one or two seconds. If you are beginner, then put your palm over your stomach to focus.
- Raise the counts slowly with every cycle.
- Finish the Kapalbhati breathing exercise by taking a deep breath.
- It is one round and performs this 3-round of 10-breathing. Take one pause of 15-seconds in between.
Alternate Nostril Breathing (Anulom-Vilom-Pranayam)
It is the best breathing exercise to cleanse your nervous system and boost circulation. It is ideal for improving the stress mechanism. The alternate nostril exercise reduces the risk of mixed genetic conditions, including hypertension and diabetes.
How to do?
- Sit down in Padmasana, Sukhasana, or Vajrasana.
- Keep your hands over thighs and relax your body. Keep the fingers in meditation pose.
- Raise the right hand and keep your palm into the pranayama position.
- Close your right-side nostril by using your left thumb.
- Now repeat the same for left nostril using the right thumb.
- While your nostril is closed, take a deep breath with the open nostril.
- Repeat this exercise for both nostrils for 20 times.
- Try to increase the count as you feel comfortable.
Seetkari Pranayama
Seetkari pranayama is one of the amazing workouts to manage your blood pressure. It also helps to prevent stress and blood pressure spike.
How to do?
- Sit down and take Sukhasana or Padmasana.
- Manage your spine and neck straight while lightly turning your head.
- Close eyes and make your hands rest over knees.
- Take 5-times breathing and breath out from nose to make yourself relaxed.
- Open your lips and make teeth come in contact.
- Take a long and slow breath from your teeth to move the air like a hiss.
- Close your lips and breath out slowly from nose.
- It is one round of Seethakari.
- Perform 10-repetitions, increase to 50-counts over time.
Sheetali Pranayama (The Cooling Exercise)
Sheetali is a Sanskrit word meaning cooling down. It is a breathing exercise. It is a simple seeker Pranayam and helps to fight hypertension effectively. This exercise reduces your stress and manages anxieties to promote good health.
How to do?
- Sit down in a Sukhasana or Padmasana pose. Keep your spine straight and shoulders relaxed.
- Take a normal breath and focus on your breathing from the nose tip. It will make you concentrate better.
- Hold your tongue outward and roll the tip inward like U shape. Make sure to touch the tip to your tongue.
- Breath in deeply from your tongue.
- As you complete breathing, reduce your chin, let it touch the chest and form the Jalandhara Bandha for 8-seconds.
- Do not overstrain and feel out the breath.
- Raise your chin, block your nostril from your right thumb and breath out slowly from the left nostril.
- It is one set and does another 5-sets.
- Once you do five sets, take a normal breath and relax.
Chandra Bhedi Breath Exercise
It is pranayama that cools down your entire body and relieves the stress.
How to do?
- Sit down in a Sukhasana or Padmasana. You can also lay down over your right side.
- Close your right nostril completely by using your right thumb.
- Now use a ring and your small fingers, close the left nostril partially.
- Take a deep breath from left side nostril and close completely.
- Now open the right-side nostril and breath out.
- It is one round, and you have to perform 10 rounds in a similar way to relieve pressure and stress.
30-Second Deep Breathing Practice
According to the study of Japan, this breathing method got the potential to reduce and balance blood pressure levels.
How to do?
- Sit down comfortably in a calm place. Keep your back straight.
- Take breath and breath out six times by having a gap of five seconds in 30-seconds of time.
- It is one round, and you have to do similar three rounds.
Left Nostril Deep Breathing of Abdominal
It is a basic breathing method recommended for regulating high blood pressure levels. It is also known as belly breathing.
How to do?
- Sit comfortably on a mat and let your right-hand rest over the abdomen below your rib cage.
- Put your left hand on your chest.
- Deep breath slowly from your nose without any chest movement.
- You will become right when you feel the belly is forcing your hands.
- Hold your breath for 10-counts.
- Slowly breath out.
It is one round of this exercise. Do it 10-times to relieve the stress linked with hypertension. Once you become an expert, then you can stop putting your hand on your chest and abdomen.
What are good blood pressure levels?
It is important to understand good and normal blood pressure levels to learn to manage it. Blood pressure is the measure of your pressure in the blood, which flows abnormally in the entire body. Different things cause to increase the pressure of blood, including high blood volume and more blood flow from your heart. Even hardened blood vessels also affect due to age and lifestyle.
Blood pressure readings are shown using two numbers, such as 120/00 mm and Hg. The high number is 120, which is known as systolic blood pressure. It measures the pressure of your blood next to vessels while the heart is pumping. The lower number is 88, which is known as the diastolic- blood pressure. It is the blood pressure level counted when your heart is resting in between pumping the blood.
According to the American-Heart-Association, the good and unhealthy blood pressure range are different.
The disappointing part of unhealthy high blood pressure is that it may not show any symptoms until it becomes too late.
High blood pressure raises serious conditions, including heart attacks and stroke. Therefore, it is more necessary to check your blood pressure and have a regular reading. The normal BP is 120/80 mm Hg, and 139/89 mm HG, it is also known as prehypertension. When you are diagnosed with prehypertension, you should quickly take a step toward your diet and suitable exercises.
LIFESTYLE CHANGES
You can also follow some lifestyle changes to maintain your blood pressure with exercise effectively.
Caffeine
The first thing is to cut down from your diet is caffeine. Caffeine is a thing that causes to increase your blood pressure and also interact with medications. If you understand these effects and cut down your morning coffee can help to reduce blood pressure.
Smoking
Another best way to manage high blood pressure is to remove smoking from your life and surrounding. A single cigarette can cause to increase the blood pressure for some time after smoking. Smoking is highly risky for health. It increases the symptoms of every hidden diseases and condition in the body and makes it worse.
Sodium
Sodium is the main things to control for managing high blood pressure. Salt presence in the food causes to increase blood volume and raise the blood pressure. You can follow the diet, which helps to lower the salt intake and manage healthy blood pressure.
Eat foods rich with nutrients that can help to maintain healthy blood pressure from essential nutrients such as calcium, potassium, and magnesium.
The standard diet of American eats 3,400 mg sodium per day, but the DASH diet recommends to limit sodium intake not more than 2,300 mg per day. It’s essential to remember that salt present in foods and natural vegetables and fruits also.
Some other long-term ways to manage blood pressure
Doing exercise and following diet can help you to control blood pressure. Here are some additional ways to include.
Weight loss
A good weight is an important thing in hypertension, and weight loss is vital for reducing high blood pressure. Being overweight causes your heart to pump the blood hardly to supply in the entire body. This time arteries get more strain and result in high blood pressure. Managing a healthy weight according to your age, prevent high-risk diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and stroke.
Performing regular breathing exercise helps to strengthen heart health. Managing a regular exercise routine can help to lower high blood pressure by 4-9 millimeters of mercury, which is positive for blood pressure patient.
Regular have check-ups
Blood pressure is not a simple ailment, but it is a complicated condition. Regularly visit and take the advice of your doctor to manage your uncontrol high blood pressure. If you are an aged person, then make sure to take the advice of your doctor before starting any diet or exercise.
Benefits of deep breathing exercises
Few minutes of deep breathing exercise provide many benefits. Breathing properly is essential for the entire health. Here are some benefits.
Natural painkiller
Deep breathing helps to relieve pain in the body by releasing endorphins, which are good-feeling hormones. The heal itself with these hormones.
Improves blood flow
Taking a deep breath activates the movement in upward and downward of the diaphragm. It helps to eliminate the toxins from your body and boost better blood circulation.
Boosts energy level
Deep breathing exercise helps to increase your blood flow, which supplies enough oxygen. Getting sufficient oxygen helps to boost energy levels.
Improves posture
Breathing exercise also helps to improve posture. You can try it yourself and notice how your posture gets improvements. When your lungs get enough air, it will straighten up while exercising.
Reduces inflammation
A body acidic in nature is more likely to develop cancer-like diseases. Breathing exercise lowers the acidity level in the body and makes it more alkaline. Stress is another reason to blame increased acidity level in your body. Breathing is a good exercise to prevent stress and reduce inflammation.
Detoxifies the body
Carbon dioxide is one of the natural toxic waste, which enters the body from breathing. When you do breathing exercise, your body helps your lungs to detoxify itself and remove the waste.
Activate the lymphatic system
Breathing moves the lymph, and slight breathing can result in the slow lymphatic system, which will not detoxify your body. Deep breathing helps the lymph system to flow properly and let the bodywork efficiently.
Improves digestion
Breathing exercise also helps to supply enough oxygen to your body, including your digestive system and make it work properly. The increased blood flow helps in deep breathing promotes intestinal action to improve entire digestion.
Additionally, deep breathing exercise calms down the nervous system and promote digestion.
Relaxes mind and body
When you are tensed, scared, and angry, your muscles become shallow and tight. It makes your breathing constrict. During this time, your body does not get enough oxygen. Whereas long breathing work opposite and provide more oxygen and relax your body and mind.
Practice the above breathing exercise to manage your high blood pressure. It is important to talk with a doctor before doing any exercise because different age groups people have different conditions. You should know your blood pressure levels and how frequently it raises and get low.
If your blood pressure levels are not much complicated, then you can follow a good exercise routine and diet to get effective results.