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!
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!
The Sammamish River Trail is 10 miles long and passes through the city of Redmond.
When traveling with high blood pressure, it can be challenging when it comes to lack of control over meals. If you’ve been following this blog, you know I am a big supporter of balance. Finding some kind of compromise is really the key; even during travel.
One way to gain some control and maintain a low salt diet when traveling is to choose hotels that have kitchenettes.
This way, if you indulge a little during lunchtime, you can grab a few simple ingredients to throw together a salad and enjoy with fresh fruit and nuts for dinner. This allows you to minimize the amount of salt and unhealthy fats for one of the meals.
It’s not the perfect solution, but I find perfection hard to keep up with. (I also have a post on tips for eating out, as that happens quite a bit during travels.)
I’m currently in Redmond, Washington and staying at the Hyatt House Redmond. It has a nice little kitchenette, living room, and bedroom. The rates are reasonable. The facilities aren’t fancy, but they meet my goals of space and control over what I eat. The staff is nice, and there are beautiful trails right outside the door. More on that later!
See below for a few photos. Have you ever made your own meals when traveling? If you have any easy go-to recipes to share, I would love to hear!
Hyatt House Redmond has kitchenettes, which helps with making low salt meals during travel.
During my vacation in Honululu, Hawaii, I wanted to see if I could find local treats that are heart healthy for those of us with high blood pressure. Wandering around in the supermarkets and gift shops, I quickly found that macadamia nuts are a local grown tree nut (apparently they were first grown in Australia). The most common brand in touristy areas seems to be Mauna Loa, and there are many flavor options including Smoked BBQ, Maui Onion and Garlic, Milk Chocolate Covered and so much more!
Of course I personally think it’s okay to sample small amounts of the flavored options, but I was so glad to find that they have a dry roasted and unsalted option! The only ingredient listed is “dry roasted macadamia nuts”! Yay! Why is this important to me? Well, the flavored options often have a lot of added ingredients including salt that wouldn’t be helpful in my low blood pressure journey.
With the unsalted, dry roasted one, I can be more certain that I will be getting the nutritional benefits of the macadamia nut with out worrying about hiking up my blood pressure from a ton of salt! I usually take out a spoonful and then drizzle it very lightly with maple syrup! YUMMMM!
Ok so what are some health benefits for macadamia nuts?!
Lowers total and LDL cholesterol (low density lipoprotein or casually known as “bad cholesterol”)
Lowers inflammation and oxidative stress (this protects your cells)
Lowers high blood pressure
Lowers triglycerides (excess fat from foods we eat that are stored in our fat cells)
Helps to improve control of blood sugar levels in Type 2 diabetics. This is important because over time high blood sugar can damage blood vessels.
Improves digestive health because of its fiber content
Phew! Impressive list, isn’t it?! There are more health benefits, but I’ll stop here for now, so I don’t overwhelm anyone with giant blocks of text!
Be mindful that: although macadamia nuts are healthy, they are high in calories so consume in moderation! I don’t go over a single serving in a day which is about 10 to 12 macadamia nuts.
Next time you travel to Hawaii or you see macadamia nuts on your local supermarket shelves, give them a try! Don’t forget to look for unsalted and dry roasted if possible. Enjoy!
Enjoying some dry roasted unsalted macadamia nuts with the view of Waikiki Beach in the background!
Traveling is one of my favorite adventures! In fact, it’s what originally inspired the name of this website: Heart Happy Adventures! When I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, I wondered how to still travel while keeping my high blood pressure well-managed. Lowering blood pressure naturally is really important to me; even while traveling!
How can I travel with high blood pressure? What are some tips for traveling with high blood pressure? I promise this is a topic that this blog will return to frequently!
So, for the first time since January 2020, I am going on a vacation today which will require flying! It’s a little nerve-wracking, but I’m vaccinated, received a negative COVID test, and packed a bunch of masks for the flight. I’m excited to get back out there again and will keep you posted with some pictures from the trip (and also more blood pressure tips of course!)
Let’s start with what are some tips for the day of travel!
3 Tips for Managing High Blood Pressure at the Airport
Go For a Walk Inside the Airport
When it comes to maintaining good blood pressure control through exercise, it’s really important to be consistent. Which means, don’t miss the chance exercise even if you’re on vacation or in-transit! There’s a lot of waiting around at the airport. If you are the type that gets there early, consider taking a 10 or 15 minute continuous walk around the terminal. If you can walk from one terminal to another, even better! Clearly, it’s probably not a great idea to speed walk when so many other people around, so just do the best you can to keep moving. As I mentioned in my post about increasing physical activity, some exercise is better than no exercise! Be sure to wear good walking shoes, so it’s easier for you to move around. Also, even if the airport is small, you can still walk back and forth a few times before getting on the plane! Just be sure to set an alarm on your watch or phone so you don’t miss the boarding time!
2. Pack Your Own Snacks or Buy Low Salt Snacks at the Airport
Have you noticed that snacks on the airplanes are almost always loaded with salt? I usually grab a sandwich bag and throw in a scoop of raisins and a handful of no salt added cashews (By the way, cashews can help lower blood pressure. I’ve written about how awesome they are: here and here!). Other easy snack ideas include: carrot sticks! They are refreshing to chew on too, but watch out for annoying your seat mate on the plane with all the loud vegetable crunching! Hehe. Life gets busy though, maybe you didn’t have time to pack a snack. You can visit an airport store and buy a bag of no salt added almonds or a piece of fresh fruit. Yeah, I know. It’s definitely not as exciting as a bag of hot Cheetos. But if you’re here reading this, I know you’re invested in your heart health and lowering blood pressure so you know there are sacrifices to be made! Kudos to you!
3. Be Mindful of Your Stress Level
If you’ve been following this blog for a while, then you’ve heard me talk about the effects of anxiety on high blood pressure quite a bit! In fact, earlier this week I was excited to share a cool cellphone app called “Insight Timer” that I’ve used for many years because of the vast amount free content available, along with numerous other features. Check out my post for some fun screenshots! The airport is inherently a stressful place. There’s a weird combination of waiting and feeling rushed, crowds of people, delays, and other uncertainties. What I’ll do is plan to be at the airport on the earlier side if possible, find a quieter gate, pop on my headphones and do 5 minutes of meditation. The headphones help give you some “space” from the airport rush. Of course, if you close your eyes to meditate, be sure to put your luggage right by your leg so you can feel it!
I hope that was a helpful start! Speaking of getting some physical exercise, I’m going to put my backpack on and take a little walk around the terminal before having to sit for hours on the plane!
If you have any other helpful tips for staying healthy at the airport or on the day of travel, please free free to share!
Heart Happy Adventures 