BP - Why does Sport and bedrest lower it?

[glimmer]

Thanks Caryn. So sports does in general temporarily raise BP, but lower in on average.
I didn't fully understand this. I am probably an unmasked chronic and am looking for ways to lower
my BP besides medication. I was scared to exercise, but my doctor said it would lower BP. I was surprised and checked *while exercising* and it was a lot lower than normally. But - as you point out -, all these statements are generalizations and might not be the case for any individual.
I guess I might have been subtly hypertensive before my pregnancies but because I exercised I lot
it might have offset it. Well, for me exercising is a lot easier than loosing weight, so I will keep it up. Better than nothing, isn't it?

Thanks Caryn and also for your support Suzie.

[suzieq8204]

This was a very good question and has a very good answer. I want to thank you both for asking and answering the question so that others could get some insight. Thank you

[caryn]

Bedrest doesn't always lower it, and sports don't always raise it. :) It's very dependent on the individual scenario in question. Are you thinking more of changes in pregnancy, or outside of pregnancy?

When pregnant chronic hypertensives are put on bedrest, sometimes it lowers their blood pressure -- but probably not if they've got actual preeclampsia, just in the case where their chronic hypertension is being aggravated by the pregnancy.

Outside of pregnancy, exercise temporarily raises your blood pressure but improves the functioning of the blood vessels so that average blood pressure probably tends to drop in the vast majority of people -- but not in those whose tendency towards hypertension isn't caused by lack of exercise.

And in pregnancy the problem is that no one understands what's going on very well. It's extremely difficult to do proper scientific studies on pregnant women, mostly for ethical reasons...

[glimmer]

I never understood why bed rest lowers your BP compared to a normal lifestyle, but sport lowers it as well. Isn't that counter intuitive? Does it have to do with opening capillaries? Thanks.