Abstract

Hypertension is an important global health issue invariably affecting all the races of people. It is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease and premature death world-wide. High BP usually has no symptoms, but it can cause serious problem such as stroke, heart failure, heart attack and kidney failure. Individual with hypertension use long term medications to keep their BP under control. Recent studies have reported that 60 percent of patients using antihypertensive drugs end up with one or many adverse reactions. Like, Increased frequency of micturition, headache, insomnia, fatigue, swollen ankles/oedema, muscular cramp/myalgia, dizziness upon standing up, palpitation and reduced sexual urge. Unhealthy diet, poor physical activity and personal habits also increase the prevalence of hypertension. Since there is an urge to find an alternate therapy to reduce the adverse effects of medication and to improve the life style of hypertensive patients, this study intended to examine the effects of Aerobic exercise and Jacobson’s progressive muscular relaxation on blood pressure. 60 hypertensive subjects aged between 40 - 60 years participated in this study. One half of the individuals performed aerobic exercise and the other half performed Jacobson’s progressive muscular relaxation exercise for a period of 4 weeks. Sphygmomanometer was used to assess the blood pressure in pre and post intervention period. We found that both Aerobic exercises and Jacobson’s progressive muscular relaxation significantly reduced the blood pressure among the individuals who participated in the study.

Keywords: Hypertension; Aerobic Exercise; Jacobson’s Progressive Muscular Relaxation; Sphygmomanometer

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