Cardio Ideas During COVID and Travel

Currently, I’m out of town taking care of some family matters. Due to the tight schedule, I chose a hotel close to the airport for convenience.

As we’ve discussed before, in order to lower blood pressure naturally, it’s important to consistently get cardio exercise. Before the days of the pandemic, I would hit the hotel gym after dinner and use the treadmill. However, due to the current Delta variant causing concerns, even though I’m vaccinated, I decided to be a little more cautious. The gym was very busy throughout my stay, so I had to get a bit creative. An alternative is going outdoors to take a walk, however my hotel wasn’t located in a very safe area for extensive walking.

That’s when I realized I could use the stairway within the hotel to get some pretty serious cardio. Of course, be sure to wear good walking shoes, hold onto the rail if necessary, and if you already have pre-existing balance issues, proceed with caution! Also, don’t forget to bring your hotel key card and cell phone.

Climbing stairs really gets my heart pumping, and after going up and down from floor one to nine about 3 times, I got an incredible workout! It also felt safer from COVID since there was no one else in the stairway. Remember, ideally you move continuously during the activity so your heart can become stronger!

Not to mention, it was super convenient to just lace up some shoes and skip the fuss of the gym or driving somewhere else.

The only downside was the complete and total lack of view 😆. Nothing exciting about a hotel staircase. However, I did reach my goal of getting heart-healthy exercise!

Have you found creative ways to incorporate exercise into your day?

My “gym” for today! Not very exciting but it got the job done!

Daily Cardio on the Sammamish Trail in Redmond, Washington

There are many different ways you can start introducing more physical activity in your day to lower blood pressure naturally. It might be walking, swimming, or even other pool activities.

The key is to start moving and try for at least 30 minutes a day of continuous movement. If that’s not possible, don’t despair! Breaking it up into 2 separate segments of 15 minutes each is beneficial too!

You might be thinking: well there’s no way I’m going to drag myself to the gym and walk on a treadmill at the end of a long day. That’s totally fair.

When it comes to lowering blood pressure naturally by exercise, choose what fits into your life and is sustainable as a habit. Consistency is highly effective. Aim for 30 minutes at least 5 days a week.

I personally enjoy taking walks. The sights and sounds of getting outside is helpful for improved mental health (yay lower anxiety!). It’s also convenient for me to just lace up my shoes and step outside. Also, for those of you with back, hip or knee pain, walking is lower impact and less painful.

If you’re ever in the Seattle, Washington region and want to experience more than the typical tourist attractions, head on over to Redmond and take a nice brisk walk down the gorgeous Sammamish River Trail. I’ll include a few pictures below for your reference!

What are you doing on a daily basis to increase the level of physical activity? Please share!

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The Sammamish River Trail is 10 miles long and passes through the city of Redmond.

Hiking in Cama Beach Historical State Park

It’s always a joy to have the opportunity to visit a different place. I’m currently visiting the beautiful Washington State, one of my favorite destinations. This trip, I’m staying in Redmond (located 15 miles East of Seattle) and rented a car for my adventures.

I love Seattle and its vicinity for many reasons, but I’ll focus on just one of them today! There are so many beautiful local and state parks to explore. Within the parks are often opportunities to find hiking trails.

Hiking is a fun and unique way to work in some excellent cardiovascular exercise. To lower blood pressure naturally, I aim to do 30 minutes of exercise daily. Having the opportunity to hike breaks up the monotony of the daily neighborhood walk. In addition, hiking helps to improve your balance and agility as it challenges your body to move in different ways than just walking on flat ground.

I drove to Cama Beach Historical State Park and cherished a lovely hike on the Bluff Trail which connected to the Marine Trail. Beautiful views of lush green forest foliage leading to sparkling blue waters sure made exercising for lower blood pressure great fun today!

You’ll find a few photos from the hike below! Are you a fan of hiking? What’s your favorite place to hit the trails?

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Personal Blood Pressure Update

I was pretty emotional yesterday, because I’ve been working hard for so long to lower my blood pressure naturally, and I’m finally starting to see some good numbers.

If you’re on the high blood pressure journey as well, know that lifestyle changes can be a very powerful thing. I’ve said this before, but I’m not against taking medications for hypertension. I just happen to be in a place where the cardiologist recommended that I try lifestyle changes to attempt lowering it naturally. I thought it would be interesting to share what I’ve learned and am still learning; in hopes that it will benefit you too!

Here’s my blood pressure reading from yesterday (the lowest it’s been in years). 113/76!!! HOORAY! My high blood pressure has always been incredibly resistant, and I’ve tried so many different lifestyle changes, but I’m deeply grateful that all the efforts I’ve made are starting to pay off.

I know everyone’s health situation is very different. I’m just grateful to have a space here to be able to share what I do on a daily basis to keep my blood pressure overall in a healthier range. Today, I’ll share a typical day for me in terms of both activities and meals! You’ll see links in the schedule for posts where I’ve discussed a related topic before.

My Schedule Today Including Activities and Meals!

• Breakfast: Steel cut oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins, one cup decaf coffee
• Break Mid Morning: Take the stairs up and down 5 times
• Lunch: Sandwich with wheat bread (Ezekiel no salt bread), tuna fish seasoned with black pepper, light mayo and mustard, chopped celery, carrot sticks on the side, strawberries
• Afternoon snack: 4 Medjool dates, a handful of dry roasted unsalted cashews, a cup of cold barley tea
• Break Mid Afternoon: Quick 10 minute walk around the apartment complex
• Dinner: Fish oven baked with light teriyaki sauce, white rice, steamed zucchini and swiss chard.
• Post dinner snack: Small bowl of cantaloupe
• Post dinner tea: Hot ginger tea
• Post Dinner Walk: 30 minute uninterrupted brisk walk around the neighborhood
• Pre Bedtime: 10 minutes of meditation
• Note: Drank several glasses of water throughout the day.

Often times, I find it helpful to get a peak into what someone’s day looks like to get a more complete sense of how the different lifestyle changes fit in the big picture. This blog has a wide variety of tips, and it was interesting to put many of them together. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments! I hope you are doing well on your heart healthy journey.

Walking for Heart Health in Waimānalo Beach

It’s been a whirlwind of anxiety and excitement leading up to my first vacation and flight since the pandemic. Even during vacation time, I try to remember and prioritize keeping my blood pressure low naturally the best way I can. Arriving in Honolulu, Hawaii last night, I picked up a light salad on the way to the hotel from the airport.

This morning, after getting some breakfast to go from the hotel buffet (oops I did eat some sodium there for sure), I decided to do my daily 30 minute walk on the beach! As you can see from the photo, the water is a surreal emerald blue here! Driving away from the very busy Waikiki Beach, I enjoyed a quiet mid-morning walk at the stunningly beautiful, Waimānalo Beach. Highly recommended! Although for those looking for facilities such as bathrooms and restaurants, you may want to stick to Waikiki instead.

30 minutes of continuous walking at a brisk pace on the sand gave a great heart healthy workout! It’s tough to keep to the usual routines during travel, but since consistency is key when using exercise to maintain lower blood pressure naturally, I knew I needed to keep to schedule of walking 5 days a week. If you have a gym at your hotel or a neighborhood that is safe to walk in, those are great options too!

Do you get to still maintain an exercise routine when traveling? Would love to hear about it!

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Photos taken by: Diana of Heart Happy Adventures