Hi!

[KazJordan]

51 years old, I recently discovered I have Very high blood pressure, have medication , but I think exercise will help bring it down. BMI fine , I am pretty active but have never done any running before. Just completed first week of runs. Really enjoyed it. Has running helped anyone else with their blood pressure ?

[UnfitNoMore Graduate]

Almost certainly everyone who runs. There may be a little increase at first, then it should slowly lower and go down to meds free level at some point in a lot of cases.

livestrong.com/article/2321...

Interestingly what livestrong describe there is this running programme, well similar.

[AgingMetalHead Graduate]

Hi. I'm a few years younger but had very high BP a few years ago which is now under control with various meds. I am on week 7 and my BP has dropped to the point I will soon be discussing with my GP reducing one of my meds. It is definitely working!

[Denovo]

I'm on week 8. I was about 140/80 when I started C2kK, not on any treatment and just monitoring it by myself. Currently I'm around 115/65, which is not bad going for an overweight 64-year-old female. My resting heart rate has also dropped from around 65 to around 58.

BTW, oats, quercetin-rich foods (e.g. apples, onions) and garlic are supposed to be good for bringing down BP. A proper clinical trial showed that a daily cup of hibiscus tea was as effective as captopril in reducing BP. It tastes lovely as well, either hot or iced, although quite acid so you might perhaps need a bit of honey, sugar or sweetener to take the edge off it. I drink it because I liked it so much when I came across the iced version in Egypt (they call it karkadeh). I bought dried hibiscus flowers on eBay for a very low price.

[RunBrianRun Graduate]

I’ve been wondering about this for a long time. My BP has stabilised at 120/80 now has been that way since I graduated. I want to come off the meds and may start alternative days for the BP tabs and see how it goes.

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

Well done you... it is all sounding positive... check this out too.. interesting reading

nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/r...

[Tasha99 Graduate]

Yes! My resting heart rate, although it was never high, has dropped from about 55-60 down to 45-50 👌🏽