Low blood pressure? How do you work out?

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yirara
yirara Posts: 9,443 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So since I lost 10 pounds my old friend is back: feeling dizzy, tingling head and tunnel view for a few seconds after standing up. I've always had it as a teenager and up into the late 20s, until I gained some weight. Ok, it means standing up slowly (not that I ever think of it), but I also noticed while working out yesterday that it might be a problem. I was doing a HIIT session with alternating sets of V-ups and jumping jacks and was feeling mildly dizzy every time I did the latter. As this kind of workout is pretty much the only cardio I can do (dodgy feet, pool closed) I'm a bit at a loss. What do you with low blood pressure do?

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  • significance
    significance Posts: 436 Member
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    For some, it's sudden changes in exercise intensity that cause you to feel faint. Your arteries dilate to let more blood through when exercising hard, then don't constrict fast enough when you suddenly stop the hard work. So be sure to warm up before intense exercise and cool down afterwards. You could try things like bicycling and rowing as other options that are not hard on the feet and support more of your weight if you are subject to dizzy spells.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,443 Member
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    Well, it also happens when I just stand up from my chair at the office. Not everytime, mind you. It's always been like that, only I did not work out in the past. I guess I need to be more careful.

    And no, I don't have access to a rowing machine and live in an area where it's suicide to use a bike. While the people here are amongst the unhealthiest in the world, still more people die of road accidents than anything else.
  • slw5X5
    slw5X5 Posts: 282 Member
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    I'm sure significance was referring to bicycling and rowing at a local gym. :wink:
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,443 Member
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    Oh, right! No, there's no rowing machine in my compound gym, and only some kind of grannybike ergometer. Only the basket above the front wheel is missing :wink:
  • KageMori27
    KageMori27 Posts: 1
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    I've had that problem for the last few years and for the most part I just avoid rapid sitting-to-standing exercises. The blood drains down from my head too fast and I feel lightheaded (or I get the black in front of my eyes).

    I do the elliptical indoors (I worry about my knees) and I do some yoga. When I do yoga I make sure that I do the changes from sitting to standing slowly and sometimes I slow down the sun salutations.

    As long as I stay on one level without rapid transitions I've never had a dizziness issue during exercise.

    The only thing I've found for myself is to substitute the exercise for something else or move slower. Can you move your exercises around so that your jumping jacks don't immediately follow floor exercise? Maybe do all the standing stuff and then the sitting/ground stuff?

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