This 45-day belly burn challenge helped a woman with hypertension manage her blood pressure

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a lifelong condition that requires medications to help reach normal blood pressure.

Aside from pills however, you can actually maintain normal blood pressure with a healthy diet and regular exercise.

Take it from Christine Salvador, who joined an online 45-day belly burn challenge after being diagnosed with hypertension.

In Saturday's episode of Pinoy MD, Christine explained she was diagnosed with hypertension after giving birth to her third baby, which caused her weight gain and lack of physical activity.

"Baka daw kasi I gained a lot of weight during the third pregnancy, baka yun yung nag-cause ng hypertension," she said.

The normal blood pressure rate of a person should be 180/70, but according to Christine, hers went as high as 170/110. It motivated her to research ways to manage her BP aside from her maintenance pills.

In her search for natural remedies, she found the 45-day belly burn community challenge online, in which a fitness coach would supervise the participants' food intake and workout routine.

"The community itself would try to push you to do better and [be consistent]," she said.

After completing the challenge last week, Christine said her BP was back to normal.

According to internist Dr. Oyie Balburias, working out is an effective way to combat hypertension.

"Dahil sa page-exercise, ito ay magdudulot ng pagbaba ng iyong tibang. Merong kaakibat na pagbagsak by millimeters of mercury ang level ng ating blood preasure," Dr. Balburias explained.

The doctor added that joining fitness challenges like what Christine joined is not really necessary as long as you stay committed and consistent with your workout routine.

"Kung siya ay nag-e-exercise ng regular, makakatulong din ito para ang kaniyang dugo ay hindi masyado maging malapot at maging maayos ang daloy nito na magdudulot din ng pagbaba o pag control ng kaniyang blood pressure," Dr. Balburias added.

Watch "Pinoy MD" every Saturday, 6 a.m. on GMA Network. — LA, GMA News