High blood pressure

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by Smitfire, Nov 1, 2021.

  1. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    I've recently been diagnosed with high blood pressure. I'm in my late 40's.
    On some meds and advice to look at my diet and exercise. It could be hereditary as my Mum had it for years in later life but need to try some things and see if there's a difference over the next few months.
    Just wondering if anyone else has dealt with this? What they did to help it? Any success stories?

    Annoyingly I don't drink or smoke so stopping those things won't help!
    My main vice is sugar and could do with dropping a few lb's.
    Although I had a facebook memory pop up reminding me I weigh the same today I did 5 years ago. Although I'm sure the fat/muscle ratio isn't the same!
     
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  2. Grond

    Grond Valued Member

    I don't have this problem BUT I have definitely become more accustomed to being aware of my BP as I continue to train hard into middle age. For anyone, BP skyrockets all over the place during a typical day...did you know just doing moderate cardio or a few caffeinated sodas can easily put you into the hypertensive range? That's why you should never have your resting BP tested after exercise, it can go higher than 200 mm systolic! Not to mention there is a thing called "White coat syndrome" that makes your BP go up just by being at the doctor's office...people get nervous, their BP goes up. I only have a couple doctors I work with but both emphasize at my age, stress control, weight control, and nutrition (as well as avoiding vices) as the key to maintaining a lower average BP. You simply can't do that without maintaining a stricter exercise and diet regimen than when you were 20 years younger. A lot of people our age (about half) suffer from hypertension and a lot of it is linked to sedentary behaviors. We humans now spend more time sitting than ever before, and unfortunately it's making people more sick, earlier in life, and shortening that. And those are just the long term risks...add some random new stress on top of being overweight and inactive...recipe for immediate trouble.

    So, there are a lot of things that impact your BP on a daily basis, some you can control and some you can't. Things you can control like nutrition and exercise are your best focus area. Genetics...that'll just make you worry and increase BP. The easiest thing you can do is increase your weekly activity, especially your cardio. 150 minutes of light cardio per week (walking, etc) should be the minimum, at least according to the US standards I follow. Food habits, avoiding alcohol etc....let's face it these are only semi-controllable. I had a few extra gin and tonics yesterday for Halloween, it happens. :D

    Stress is it's own thing entirely. Even the most calm person gets stressed out by life, family issues, work. Personally, that's when I feel the need to train the most, because for me exercise tends to unlock all my stresses. And the converse is true, I find that whenever stress seems to find me, it's whenever I'm planted on my butt with too much time on my hands and thoughts in my head.
     
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  3. bassai

    bassai onwards and upwards ! Moderator Supporter

    I’m in the same boat mate , I have to try and control my sugar intake anyway as I’m type 2 diabetic and I’m trying to cut down the booze.
    The biggest thing I’ve tried to address is stress , I’m doing little seemingly inconsequential stuff like taking a slightly longer route to work as I know I’ll get cut up less and keeping right out of the politics at work.
    Other than that , I’m lucky that I don’t really like salt so never add any to a meal and always cut any fat off meat before I eat it , I had to do a blood pressure ‘diary’ for a week about a month ago which came back as ok and at my diabetic clinic last week it was the first time they didn’t comment on my blood pressure so I assume I’m doing something right.
     
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  4. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    Yep. I had a high BP reading at a doctor's appointment (for something else) about a month ago and so had to do a weekly diary (taking BP 2x2 a day) to see if that was accurate or consistent and it turns out it was!
    I had high BP across the whole week both morning and evening. Not massive alarm bells high but certainly consistently in the danger zone.

    This, I fear, is probably one of the biggest factors in my life. I have GAD (general anxiety disorder) and regular bouts of depression once or twice a year (mostly mild depression but every so often crippling).
    Often these bouts lead to being less active (not wanting to face the world/life and spending so much energy of being "normal" and getting through a day I don't look after myself) and I'm just in a phase like that at the moment.
    A few months back I was doing weights, 5k runs twice a week and martial arts when I could but at the moment even walking the dog is a struggle and most days I cannot rustle up the energy to any more than eating and working. I'd be interested to know what my BP was back in that "up" phase.

    I used to be like that but must admit as I've gone into middle age I've started to savour taste and flavour more.
    So would salt veggies and other cooking. Have proper butter on toast, etc. A nice bit of crispy bacon. Maybe that sort of stuff needs to stop. :(
     
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  5. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    It's weird but I had a load of tests done (on the previous visit) and literally everything except BP came back as normal. Which is kind of annoying as I was hoping the doctor would be able to say "Aha...it's "this"...fix "this" and you'll feel much better!"
    My brother is type 1 diabetic, I had diabetic relatives (grandfather) and eat sugar like it's going out of fashion so diabetes is always in the back of my mind.
     
  6. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    On the plus side a high BP is the easiest to thing to medicate against, and all the lifestyle changes that can also help, are good for you in multiple ways.
     
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  7. bassai

    bassai onwards and upwards ! Moderator Supporter

    Yeah , when I had COVID a few weeks back I lost all taste and smell , even now 3 weeks later , my taste is still dulled and I can’t smell much , so at the moment I’m definitely going for strong flavours, I’m very aware that I need to reign it in before it becomes a habit.
     
  8. Van Zandt

    Van Zandt Mr. High Kick

    Best things that worked for me were a good night's sleep (had undiagnosed sleep apnoea for years without being aware it was causing havoc to my cardiovascular system), morning walks, and listening to music that made me feel good. Surprisingly, high intensity training sessions and changes to my diet had little, if any, discernible effect.
     
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  9. axelb

    axelb Master of Office Chair Fu

    I don't have high BP, but went for loads of tests for years on my asthma - I felt like it would be more reassuring for a diagnosis on something to fix it longer term, but in essence it's just take the medication available, and don't do anything in extremes.

    I know people on high BP medication, it is medicinally straight forward to treat. Would be much nicer to "give up" some unhealthy habit or such, but keep up with the medication and monitor how it goes.
     
  10. Grond

    Grond Valued Member

    Your BP will stay elevated possibly for hours after intense exercise, but the long term effect is improved vascular efficiency, something hard to measure if you're not keeping track regularly. A stronger heart doesn't have to work as hard to pump blood. Put another way elevated BP with a heart capable of intense exercise is still better than elevated BP with a weak heart, where the heart is working overtime. That's when you are in the danger zone for stroke, heart attack, etc.

    Basically anything you do that spikes your BP, like lifting a heavy object, won't spike it as much, if you are relatively conditioned from training. That's not a big deal.

    But if your 30lbs overweight and not conditioned and trending above 140/90mm on average (doing nothing) and try that heavy lift, you might run into serious trouble. Shoveling snow kills a lot of people each year that way.

    Also, it pays to learn how to measure your own hear rate. Pretty simply, take your pulse. If it's 1 beat per second, you're at 60 beats/min. If it's 2 per second, 120 which is high unless you are exercising. If it's somewhere in between, 80-90 which is normal resting. If it's 3 per second, you are in the red zone and need to slow down fast.

    The rule for safe max heart rate is 220 minus your age. It pays to have a Garmin or Apple watch measure this over the day so you can see the average, but if you just learn to take your pulse periodically through the day (morning, during or after a workout, late) you can get a good sense of how your body responds to activity. Generally you should stay below 100/m unless your moving around a lot.
     
  11. Xue Sheng

    Xue Sheng All weight is underside

    First let me say, you're probably not going to like this.

    Several years ago I had high cholesterol and my blood pressure was climbing and I was regularly seeing a cardiologist. I was on lipitor and overweight. I hate meds, can't stand being on them, so I started to look around at options. I read a couple books by Dr. Joel Fuhrman and some other stuff from the Forks over knives folks, Dr. Caldwell Blakeman Esselstyn Jr.

    I went vegetarian for about 1.5 years, I lost a lot of weight, got off Lipitor, blood was 117/78 regularly, and still is, and I literally got kicked out of my cardiologists office for being to healthy. After 1.5 years I slowly got off the vegetarian diet, not by choice, it just happened (I have a hard time with cold food in winter). But I never returned to my previous diet, I no longer ate red meat and my intake of sugar was cut way down. My blood pressure is still low and my cholesterol is too, but my weight is climbing and I am slowly going back to a "almost" vegetarian diet..... just can't resist good Chinese food in a good chinese restaurant (we're talking Chinatown restaurant or Restaurant in China)
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2021
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  12. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    As part of my BP diary I also did resting heart rate and it was routinely around 60/65 (sometimes high 50's and sometimes nearer 70).
    Can't remember the BP readings in detail but they were all 140+/90+ which is the high cut off.

    Nah man it's all good and from a good place. I asked for the advice and it seems like you found something that worked for you and so is worth considering.
    Been thinking about cutting down on meats, and red meat in particular, and up the veggies so it's all tallying with what I was thinking anyway.
     
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  13. Grond

    Grond Valued Member

    Meant to also mention earlier something I came across.

    Stretching is (according to at least one study) better than cardio for lowering avg BP levels.

    Both together are obviously superior, but I was surprised to find out how much stretching can complement actually running etc, and in a more impactful way if you're trying to both lean up AND maintain a healthy BP.

    It is possible to get off BP meds if your pressure is high solely because of weight, sodium, lack of stretching and activity. High cholesterol (or not enough "good" cholesterol) is also a big factor. So definitely consider more fish and chicken than red meat.

    Is stretching better than walking for reducing blood pressure?

    Stretching is Superior to Brisk Walking for Reducing Blood Pressure in People With High–Normal Blood Pressure or Stage I Hypertension in: Journal of Physical Activity and Health Volume 18 Issue 1 (2020)
     
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  14. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    Tried to make a big batch of veggie soup last night to eat for lunches through the week and that sent by BP through the roof!
    Could not get the consistency right at all. :(
     
  15. Xue Sheng

    Xue Sheng All weight is underside

    was it reduced salt? Salt is not good for blood pressure.
     
  16. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    Didn't add any salt. There's probably a bit of salt in the chicken stock I used but it's all mainly veggies and water.
    Had some for lunch today and it was..."edible"...yes let's call it "edible".

    The high blood pressure was more to do with the faff of getting it right and trying to decant it into plastic bags for freezing rather than any ingredients!
     
  17. Xue Sheng

    Xue Sheng All weight is underside

    Chicken stock, if purchased in a store, is loaded with salt, unless you got low sodium. I always look for low sodium in anything soup related. I was amazed at how much salt there is in soup when I started paying attention.

    As I left meat behind, and started eating better, I also started leaving most condiments behind too. At first it was "edible" but as time went on and my taste buds got more accustom I started to enjoy the actual taste of things without a lod of additives. I still have a low salt tolerance, don't like the stuff much. Although I will admit I did use, and still use some salad dressings.

    Something to note: about a year into my vegetarian diet, I started craving a hamburger. After about 2 weeks of craving, I gave in and had one. I felt not long after eating it and part oif the following day. Once your body gets use to healthy food it is not happy when you put unhealthy stuff in it. Also after a year of no meat, my stomach had a lot of problems digesting meat, especially red meat. I did not have this problem when I started back to eating meat and eating Chicken and some fish.

    Additionally, when I started going Vegetarian there was a day or 2 there I did not feel great, that, per one of the books I read, was something similar to withdrawal, body missing all the bad stuff. It was not bad, just felt a bit off for a day or 2
     
  18. Grond

    Grond Valued Member

    Agreed, go with low sodium everywhere you can. If you've become salt sensitive with age (which is pretty common) you'll really need to start paying attention to nutritional labels.

    But, always remember you need some sodium to survive, as well as other electrolytes, otherwise your body's electrical imbalance can quickly exacerbate any cardiovascular issue.

    Some of your best bets are bananas and plantains (these lower BP and contain healthy potassium salts). On tr veggie side, lots of spinach which also lowers BP. I eat spinach almost daily now, in some form. Both of these foods are excellent for post workout recovery too, which is an important time to monitor your BP and heart rate (recovery heart rate and pressure ie in the minutes after exercise are a key indicator of cardio health).
     
  19. CMM

    CMM New Member

    Most of the advice above is solid--be thoughtful about diet, activity levels, salt intake, etc.
    Bear in mind that most hypertension is "essential;" there is no easily-identifiable cause, so don't beat yourself up about why it happened or whether you could have prevented it. :)
    And don't be afraid of medications--those available today are well-established, safe, and effective. Better to take a pill or two a day (in addition to any dietary/activity changes!) than to suffer a preventable stroke or something.
     
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