system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 If high blood pressure is caused by your heart overworking itself, why does exercise which force your heart to work harder lower blood pressure?

**EDIT** ADDING INFORMATION

Thank you all so much for the responses. I learned alot and got more clarity about blood pressure. I'm 32 years old with Ortho-Hypertension (one doc told me). I seen multiple cardiologists, pulmonologists, PcPs, and neurologist and gotten plenty of CTs, MRIs of almost every part of my body, multiple stress and echos., and all types of blood work. My blood pressure at rest could get as low as 120 or as high as 140/80 but slight movement would cause it to jump to 160-180/105. I take 2 medications on for but I had a ton of allergic reactions to them so it's hard to dial in on what I can take and what's causing the issue. While I do exercise I think I will put more time into it, I was just concerned that putting more work would cause it to climb. Thank you all sooo much!! Wish I could express my gratitude as I been fighting this situation for the past 5 years.
gpt
High blood pressure is more complicated than that. You might think of blood pressure like body temperature, where there's a set point that your body is trying to keep. We want enough pressure that every organ gets good blood flow (especially your brain, since you have to pump straight against gravity to get from heart to brain) but not so much that we over-stress the system or burst a vessel.

 A lot of things go into what your blood pressure is at any moment, and all are regulated different ways:

\*How much volume is in your arteries and veins. From a pressure point of view, blood is basically saltwater. Plenty of salt and water live other places in the body, so this can vary more than you'd think.

\*How blood is being pumped. The heart can vary both its rate and how hard it pumps.

\*How hard arteries are pushing back. Arteries aren't just dumb tubes like the plumbing in a house. They're lined with smooth muscle which can relax or contract, decreasing or increasing pressure. 

Chronic high blood pressure is what we worry about. Because the body is normally so good at regulating blood pressure, having chronic high blood pressure generally means that slow processes over time have altered that set point. This can involve changes in the stress response system, the kidney systems that regulate salt/water volume, changes in the lining of the blood vessels, and changes in the heart. Exactly why high blood pressure happens is a huge area of research and gets really complicated (and a little controversial, especially when we talk about salt in the diet.) We do know that regular exercise is part of keeping that healthy regulation of blood pressure normal.

Exercise can indeed briefly raise blood pressure (for accurate blood pressure measurement, we like to have people sit quietly for five minutes.) But our goal isn't to bring down blood pressure immediately. We want to slowly bring it down over time and keep it down. Exercise has positive effects on the heart, the blood vessels, the brain, the stress response system, and much more. Humans are meant to get exercise, and not getting exercise is probably a huge part of why many people get high blood pressure to begin with.

**TL;DR: Exercise may raise blood pressure short-term but improves control over the long term. Bodies can't regulate blood pressure too good if they sit all day.**