Managing blood pressure
Do you all check your blood pressure every so often to see that it is normal? The general work-life balance that many of us are exposed to, seems awfully difficult to manage. I mean the hours, responsibilities, commutes and other stresses associated don't seem to add to a "relaxed" enough lifestyle that can let my blood pressure sit in the normal range. Its only in 2017 that the American Heart Association has actually lowered the range for what was considered normal blood pressure. My readings were normal when the new classifications came out, but now it would be considered elevated, and at my last visit with my doctor he was talking about medications as a possibility. I'm in my late 20s and am definitely health conscious especially if it puts larger risks down later on in life.
Any of you checking and successfully keeping your blood pressure in the normal range or on medications that help control it? Any tips on what has worked for you?
I was able to successfully lower my average blood pressure measurements over time by simply:
Cutting WAY back on the alcohol (2-5 drinks a night to the occasional glass of wine)
Stopped eating out so much, starting meal prepping.
Working out consistently.
I’m the type of person who struggles to manage stress and relax. If I see an hour in my day not filled, I’m going to find something productive to fill it with. I’m constantly putting pressure on myself. So my option was just be healthier, that regulated a lot of my health. My weight used to fluctuate up and down by 40lbs, now it’s just 5lbs deviations. I used to see a doctor every 2 weeks, now it’s just the 6 month check ups.
That's good you've got your BP and your weight under more control.
I can definitely empathize with not being able to relax because of so many things flowing through whether it just be about work, or the other on-going things in life that make it more difficult to sit back to truly relax in downtime.
What kind of work out(s) have you been doing? I've been doing lifting the last couple of years but have started running more, a couple times a week now. I can definitely see the impact especially with the whole "runners high" and deeper sleep i am able to achieve.
I used to swim, that’s by far my favorite workout. But because of COVID I haven’t been able to in a while, so I picked up running out of necessity. I dislike running but I do it because it’s good for me.
I also like body weight workouts, I’ve always been a low weight high volume lifter. So now that gyms have been closed, just variations of pushups and ab workouts. Not ideal, but it’ll suffice for now.
Also to my above comment, it was a long process to get my health in check. It was a lot of work and discipline. I even saw a therapist for a while because I couldn’t manage stress effectively (I worked ~50-60 hours a week during full time college, so drinking was my way of winding down). Getting my body right was so much easier after getting my mind right.
I'm fit, work out a lot, drink little to no alcohol and my blood pressure is off the charts. And I'm just a prospect. At this point my plan is to double down and make bank before dying of a heart attack at 40.
I'm in a similar position OP. Very healthy through college and early 20s. Agree with what Malta said above but since I've always been fairly healthy, by far the biggest help for me was learning to manage stress better. I've always carried a lot stress and didn't see it as an issue, because I didn't know any different but then my #s started creeping up to unhealthy levels in my mid 20's. A Dr also recommended some meds to me, which I generally try to stay away from, so I talked with one of my uncles about it one year when I was home for the holidays. For context, he's a Vietnam veteran who went on to become a really successful small business owner and has a big family... Not everyone from that generation had the healthiest lifestyles but he somehow got ahead of the curve, is very healthy and sharp as ever in his late 70's. He got pretty real with me and basically said If you know you're the type to constantly be pushing, you're going to always have a heavy stress load. If you want to be able to keep working this way as you get older and take on additional personal responsibilities you'll have to learn to manage stress really well, or your health will take serious damage. We have a history of cardiovascular disease in our family, so he went on to say learn to manage it or there's a real possibility of an early heart attack like many before me have had.
You may have most of these nailed down... But the main things for me were:
Also - NOT saying I'm against medication. Just that I personally look to it as a last resort. Thankfully my numbers are back in a healthy range again. This aging thing is weird, right?
i've done a little bit of meditating before and did see some results. How long have you been doing meditating?
I first learned about it maybe 3 years ago, but have been more consistent the last two years or so. I've noticed I can focus and handle constant fires at work more effectively when I start my day with it .. I guess I'm not sure that it's helped directly with Blood Pressure but it's definitely helped with stress management which plays into that. At the end of the day if it helps, even if its placebo, I'll take it
It's sort of strange at first, I think probably just because it's wasn't as widely discussed in western culture when I was growing up. I'm not really talking about monk-level meditation for hours on end, but 5-10 minutes in the morning seems to really help. I use a free app called Insight Timer which I like because it'll track how many days you've done it for which helps keep me consistent
I have a blood pressure monitor but I do not use it because I will worry if a reading is high. I only have my blood pressure checked at an annual physical.
I do everything I can to try to keep my health, including my blood pressure, normal. I eat a low fat/low sodium diet. For the most part, the only fat I ingest is good fat from plant based foods and fish. I do body weight exercises seven days per week and do cardio five days per week. I do not smoke and I drink very little. I am an old guy but fortunately, I have not gained a pound in 25 years. I weigh considerably less now than I did when in high school. I was not really overweight in high school ( in my eyes at the time) but my diet was not very good. There is really not much more I can do for my health.
You're doctor has never made any recommendations towards blood pressure meds?
I do not get the connection between my comment and your reply. Why would my doctor recommend blood pressure meds? Doctors should not immediately write a script if someone has an issue or could develop an issue. Whenever practical a doctor should always suggest natural ways to reduce blood pressure before writing a script.
In addition to everything said above, get checked for sleep apnea unless you’re really certain you don’t have it. Has a huge impact on blood pressure and medical community has been slow to catch that particular trend. My doc is a professor at one of the biggest hospitals and says this is sort of a cutting edge topic right now, sleep apnea being both under-diagnosed and also under-appreciated for its impact on body systems.
Out of curiosity, and I do not mean the following in a negative way at all, are you Indian or did you just use the photo and name to be funny?
I am not Indian. I met someone whose name phonetically sounded funny (his last name sounded like "phallic"), so I made up a name in similar style.
Funny that I get the question so much. My cousin married an Indian guy so I have non-blood Indian relatives, they're some of my favorite people.
I’ve done multiple personality tests on myself and co-workers/employees, new hires. One metric is the active vs passive mind. Some people have very high active minds that they cannot turn off. I’m an even 50/50 active/passive, and generally a calm person and can turn off. I’ve see high actives and stress and volatility is more common, especially in my field where there’s deals, risks, etc (there’s also benefits to high active).
Just an observation but I feel high active mind can lead to greater propensity to stress, which could lead to higher blood pressure. That’s just your personality. If you have a balance or slightly more passive mind (not too much is good), you can multitask and accomplish a lot and still turn it off.
If you are a high active and in a highly uncertain and volatile field, I think burn out is a strong possibility. I think ways to cope is limiting your scope (areas of main responsibility) and delegate to others, so the number of fires are reduced in frequency. So, more business development than asset management, for example. Or being a subject area expert on your team.
Nevertheless, the lives we lead especially in high pressure, institutional and demanding fields, subjects our minds and psyche to stress. The flip side is not having enough money to live, and that kind of stress ages you also. My dad used to say Stress Kills.
Other personal observations: - I don’t drink caffeine - I drink a lot of hot water - I’m an optimist - I work with cool people who respect me and feel secure - I grew up in Hawaii so I “hang loose” \m/
Spiked to dangerous levels after new job in new city. It was truly scary seeing the transition from a precisely choreographed daily routine to roving hyper manic with no track of time. Cutting back on alcohol is so helpful, but more importantly is having an exercise program that you enjoy in times of both stress and relaxation. Ride horses when possible—super helpful for the core and mind. Find the benefits of a good core to be surprisingly under-acknowledged. A good core makes you feel sexy, adds a spring to your step, and gives you a posture/attitude that glides through stress like a champ. So lots of my exercises are core and cardio centric: spin, horses, and aggressive cycling. Also, fiction, lots of it—especially unrelated to current events. Has a way to slow down the mind, some may call it escapist, I call it relaxation. BP lowered considerably since.
I guess I am one of the "high actives". Meditation really does it for me. In the beginning it was really tough to sit still for 10-15 min and get that racing mind into a resting state but now I can't start a day without it. If you are interested in getting started, try out the headspace app (some banks– like mine – actually pay for the premium subscription for a few months) but the free version should be sufficient as well. I guess you could also just sit down and do it with a timer but having some kind of guidance really helps to get a hang of it and there are a multitude of techniques you can learn!
What works for me, maybe some points will also work for you
1) sauna and stretching in sauna w/ water bottle and breaks - increases elasticity of blood vessels 2) CoQ10 3) Turmeric + black pepper (google it) and everything else mentioned
cialis does wonders for BP; highly recommend it.
It gives you the most "bang" for your buck.
Meditation will make an ENORMOUS difference in your stress / blood pressure levels. Start with 10 minutes first thing when you wake up - you will start to feel like a different person.
complete amateur here. how could one start meditating? any helpful sources you can share? it's a mystery to me what meditating means and how people do it.
Check out a guy named Light Watkins on YouTube, his stuff is good.
Probably won’t need any additional help but if you decide you could use some coaching, it’s not a terrible idea to take a TM class. It’s all at tm.org. Costs $1k but it’s a charitable donation, tax deductible and they use the $ to teach disadvantaged kids.
I quit all my vices (except coffee) and got immediate results on BP. Enough motivation to continue on that path :)
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