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Bit of background, by BP has always been at the high end of normal since first taken in my 20's, 5'8" (173cm), 70-75kg, active, reasonable diet, but looking critically, too much dairy and carbs, not enough fish and veg. I've maintained my weight at around 75kg for the last 20 or so years (up to my early 40's) and like to think that I've been more active than the "average."
Forward wind to the last 5 years, more travelling pre-covid, less exercise, lockdown and hitting my late 40's, I've crept up to 80kg / 34" waist and my BP is now very much going in the wrong direction. There is family history, my father had high BP and grandfather on my mums side too. In terms of stats, at the start of the day I am around 132/83, this creeps up to around 140/90 (can be higher) during the day and back down again in the evening. I need to do something about this so have joined a gym, created time in my day to exercise 4 or 5 times a week, cutting out caffeine (one coffee a day doesn't count does it!) and working on modifying my diet. Planning a chat with the doc in the next month or so, but wanted to get moving in the right direction first.
I'm hoping with the above I can reduce my body fat a bit and get healthier and hopeful this will delay having to start taking meds, how much of an improvement I can make I'm not sure and keen to know how others have managed on a similar journey. Thnx.
TBH mate, that's more borderline than a 'problem'.... it's far from terrible so i think weith a bit of effort you'll get there 🙂
True, the can be higher bit does concern me, 150+/90.... Seems to me that acting now is the best approach.
Reduce salt, eat healthily, cut out/down on drinking, cut down on caffeine, stop smoking if you do, take regular exercise, loose weight.
These are the things your GP will tell you.
155/120 down to something ok(ish), haven't checked recently, around 140/75.
Blood pressure tablets for a month but diet and exercise were the main contributors. 120kg > 99kg over four months made the difference.
Absolutely no discernible difference in how I feel though 🙁 but then I never felt bad 🙂
Mine goes through the roof whilst working and especially at the docs. I've done 24H BP monitoring and as soon as I'm 'relaxed' it falls.
Remember, it's your overall 'risk' that's a pointer so taking one reading isn't ideal. Mine always points a bit high in the Docs, drops quite dramatically over 5 minutes.
Me ever so slightly, not as much as I'd hoped for though. In my 40's I've bounced about the mid 90's kg and had bouts of fitness. Now at 85kg and consistently exercising but still not out of stage 1 hypertension yet. This is also with being on Ramipiril. Still looking to drop some more weight and as always diet could do with being refined.
Similar background to the OP.
Oh and cutting caffeine didn't amount to much either, Im happy with decaf mind you and a regular coffee some mornings. Alcohol mind you was the biggest hitter(well maybe the medication). Not a big drinker these days by any means but even a few beers sees the BP rise.
Mine is high as well - it was flagged during a pre-op series of tests for a routine operation and they asked me to do everything possible over the following 2 weeks before my pre-op Covid test to reduce it.
So I immediately cut down on salt (WFH and in the office, it's easy to just nip out at lunchtime for a Meal Deal or a Subway and they're often loaded with salt), stopped what little drinking I do anyway and began monitoring it on a borrowed BP machine.
Got back to the hospital 2 weeks later and if anything it was higher still - some of that was definitely "white coat syndrome" and the nervousness of failing the test which made me more stressed anyway. So the op got cancelled - they said they weren't willing to risk it with BP that high. Got myself a GP appointment, BP, ECG, blood and urine tests. All completely normal except the BP was still high (140/95 ish).
BMI is low side of normal, resting HR is below 60, never smoked, only a very moderate drinker, regular exercise. Blood came back as fine, no issues with cholesterol or iron. So they GP said to the hospital that all was fine and I've got another pre-op next week before hopefully managing to get my now much delayed surgery.
All my monitoring has repeatedly given it at about 140/95 although it's been as high as 160/112 (that was the reading at the hospital where they just said - no, not operating if the disastolic is over 110.
Ultimately though, none of what I did during that 2 weeks had an effect on my BP - whether it's workplace stress related or it takes longer to drop I don't know.
I have done a fair bit - but my issue is hemochromatosis and therefore not diet or fitness related. That said, I feel better for reducing salt, less coffee and trying to exercise more*.
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*note to self.
OP - I dream of those readings! 🙂
Even on medication {I'm on 3 pills a day) I'm always hovering at 140/95 ish - often higher. I got it down lower but the extra pills made me feel shit. And the doctors opinion is it's safer to be at a consistent high-ish level than have spiking.
Reducing caffeine / beer etc, the usuals made sod-all difference to me.
I was at 175/120 when I first went to GP. Only found out when we were messing with my dad's BP monitor one evening. At the time I was early 40s and riding 5 times a week and very fit.
They have no idea why mine is high - ECGs, blood tests, cholesterol test all come back fine. Sometimes it's just one-of-those-things.
I was diagnosed with high BP in my late 20's , 3 years of tabs but the blood specialist got me off them as the side effects were doing me in
It was white coat high blood pressure , get the 24hr test every 20 mins and you may see your BP drop and plateau once your out the surgery
I've had readings of 208 as the first number probably red line but I'm still here 60 now
I've been borderline hypertensive since i was 17. I remember the specialist telling me i had to cut down on salty food and get more exercise. I was playing rugby and football most days and eating very well at the time. They put me on beta blockers which i remained on until i was 21 (playing first team football for my uni) when ace inhibitors came along. Every time i moved i'd get all the same tests all of which were inconclusive. I almost wasn't given a visa in Australia because of my bp at my medical check and had to get a doctor to sign me off.
Essential hypertention of course. There's definitely a family history - uncle had a stroke aged 43, grandparents on mother's side both had short lives.
I once sat with my other grandparents, Dad and his sister and we all took out blood pressure any mine was the highest by a decent amount!
In my 30s I read a Lancet (IIRC) article about the lack of benefits of treating borderline hypertension with medication and a lot of discussion about what constitutes high bp and how different countries consider it to be different... I talked with my GP about coming off the pills and he said yeah, maybe grab the bike out of the shed and try and "do a bit of exercise" (at the time i was trail running 3 or 4 times a week, often up to 20km on a Saturday). We then looked at my records from ten years previously and could see that regardless of medication my bp hadn't changed in that time. He suggested i monitor it every six months and come back if it goes up at all.
I'd previously tried a range of different things. I only drink on weekends (since 2007) - makes no noticeable difference. I eat very healthily indeed (thanks to an amazing wife). The only time i've found anything that worked was when I reduced my caffeine intake by replacing 2 cups of tea a day with green tea. Even then it was marginal.
But I read up on the medication and it seems they only make a small difference anyway.
My weight is the same at 43 as it was when i was 18 (still 5kg over what i'd like to be). I recently beat my PR on a hill run that i last did exactly 10 years ago, so I feel like i'm going ok.
Systolic is always up to around 150, diastolic is normally around 80. I rarely worry about it.
I did this exactly by change of diet.
Last chance by GP - sort BP by losing some weight or he'd medicate. I always used cycling as an excuse to eat and drink what I wanted but you can't exercise away from a bad diet forever.
Bought and followed Moseley's Blood Sugar Diet on GPs recommendation. It's a high (good) fat low carb way of eating. Followed 800 cals a day for 6 weeks (lost 2 stone) and still follow the way of eating - but not calorie counting.
Absolutely worked for me. BP was similar to yours but came down immediately - below 140/80 within a week. Lost 2 stone in 6 weeks and another stone + half the following year. Lost 4 inches in trouser waist size.
I have to eat a little more than comfortable to keep weight up. BP now averaging around 125/75.
This was 2.5 years ago. Weight still off. Feeling great!
No I haven't so its 2 pills for me (Bendroflumethiazide and Ramipril).
To be honest not got the commitment to diet and cheese tastes too good to cut it out!
It's not the cheese you have to cut out (I haven't). It's the processed carbs and starchy foods!
My BP isn't that high (118 72 this morning) but I'm trying to be healthy due to high cholesterol, "pre diabetes" and high liver fats according to the doc. I'm 43, 5'11 and 96kg (!).
Cut out alcohol completely 4 weeks ago, no processed sugar, no snacking and more exercise. I think mostly I just need to lose weight. Though I'm not sure I could do 800 calories per day!
I've lost 1kg so far. Another blood test in a few weeks so see if dropping alcohol affects liver.
Don't know what it is at the moment, but it's always been around normal when checked
Did manage to drastically reduce my blood cholestrol from 7 to 5.7 in 6 weeks when I was told it was high though
Mine is always high when it's taken in a clinical setting. My doc just said he didn't believe the numbers and told me to buy a home monitor then send him the readings - he was spot on. Though even those readings are higher than the records from my time in A&E where I had a cuff taking readings every 5 mins, though they silenced the low pulse alarm when I told them that sub 40 wasn't that unusual for me.
Yep.. had a real rethink of my health in December last year, alhough i did weights and rode bike 3-4 times a week, i spent 20 years a rugby prop-forward so have always hovered around 103-106kg.
Following COVID for the second time, i started getting tunnel vision, dizziness when standing up, and having to wee 4 times a night, went to GP and high-blood pressure and diagnosed as Type 2 diabetic, there is a history of T2 when ill in our family with 2 others getting it with cancer and another after another virus. So combination of COVID and being overweight i guess were the cause.
Read all i could about it, and bought a quality turbo trainer, went low-ish carb (but still good quality low-GI carbs like overnight oats) and increased protein and good fats and upped exercise dramatically.
Lost 2 stone within 2 months, and put diabetes into remission, and with it my blood pressure came down to normal levels also. Lost a further 1/2 stone then gradually.
Strange that it took illness to now feel the best i have in years..
Don't rely on BP figures at a doctors though. Get a cheap BP monitor and test yourself first thing in morning, then a second time 2 minutes later, and take lower of those figures, and keep a record of it to see any concerning trends
Similar age / rage to you and cut to perfect by cutting the below and riding, sleeping and hydrating more:
Salt
Alcohol
Sugar
Fried food
Processed food
Restaurant and takeaway food
Basically stick to the edge of the supermarket and track each morning / day based on what you ate / did yesterday. Found I could add some pretty tasty things without impacting too much. Most important was to stay out of restaurants that over salt and use / reuse nasty oils alongside bad quality products ingredients (Sadly most of them). Funny when you track and realise a plain burger at McDonalds isn’t actually that bad.
+1 on the double test advice above to make sure you don’t suffer the old white coat syndrome.
If you eat a fair amount of salt that can have a massive effect (water retention)
My wife was around 180/110 most of the time. Doctors gave her tablets but she researched herself rather than taking them and reducing salt (down to 1.5 grams a day, which is very hard) sees here on an average of 115/75 these days.
Doctor didn't even ask her about salt intake, exercise, advise losing weight or any things like that but just offered tablets. Great health service.
i was getting 155/99 a couple of weeks ago, trying to ignore the occasional nose bleed - but then back to 132/90
did manage to get it right down again last summer but the Mrs keeps putting things in the snack cupboard like roasted salted almonds and baking cakes. you'd think she's trying to get rid.
try drop the salt, eat a bit less to lose some kilos, strawberries, blueberries, beetroot, watercress and ride.
GP got me to wear a monitor for a day last summer and didnt seem overly concerned with the results, just said keep an eye on it
There's some fairly extreme advice on salt so far. Too little is as dangerous as too much:
One meta-analysis, for example, found a link between low salt intake and cardiovascular-related events and death. The researchers argued that consuming either less than 5.6g or more than 12.5g a day is associated with negative health outcomes.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20181029-eating-less-salt-benefits
On of my triathlete mates is often the oldest finisher in local running races aged 78. In his 50s he had high blood pressure, bad colesterol numbers and was prescribed statins etc. He decided to try a Mediteranean diet variant and lost some weight despite already being slim. He stopped the statins and has not needed them since.
As for coffee, a doctor asked me once so I honestly replied, "one with every client so far today, one with lunch and one in each coffee break, that's err 11 so far today". His arguments in favour of cutting down didn't convince and I've since read stuff to suggest I'm doing myself more good than harm.
Along with cutting out caffeine and alcohol, I take one of my morning pills also at night which seems to have gotten me down from 141/90 to 117/80.
Bit worried about the exercising though. Have to see the doc again about it specifically. I suffer hypotension for the rest of the day after exercising. BP down to 97/69 or roundabouts. Not entitely sure that's safe.
There’s some fairly extreme advice on salt so far.
All about perspective. If you have a heart condition and a kidney condition (my wife) then reducing blood pressure is going to be life saving. If reducing sodium (not just salt) removes that part of the risk then so it is the right thing to do.
Not everyone will find the same drastic result though, for many a reduction in salt will drop around 10 from their BP reading.
It's a no from me. I have to use medication unfortunately. As someone who has ran "competitively" for over 40 yrs I can't really do anymore exercise, at 57 I can't run 60+ miles a week as I did in my younger years no matter how much i want to. My coffee intake is only 1 per day and my diet is quite good but I need to do a bit more, my weakness is alcohol. Not a heavy drinker by any stretch but I drink most nights, fortunately that is down to 1 glass, I allow myself 2 on Fridays and Saturday (circa 250ml)
Interesting thread, I have suddenly developed pretty high BP after always having normal/high end of normal BP. I think it has something to do with the hemothorax/partially collapsed lung that I have at the moment and am hoping it returns to normal after that is sorted.
Had a turn on tuesday night, thought it was a heart attack. Numb/tingling left hand, feeling feint, rapid shallow breathing and head trembling. OH called ambulance who did a heart trace which was ok but BP was sky high so they took me to A&E. Doc there said he thought it was all to do with my high BP and sent me home and said talk to your GP.
Next day borrowed my mothers machine and saw a reading of 186/108 which set alarm bells ringing so called GP. I now have one of GPs machines for a week to keep a daily diary of readings. Been averaging 165/96 until this morning when I got 149/89. This backs up my hemothorax theory a bit. Last night was the first time I slept lying flat after six weeks of sleeping propped up to ease the pain. When I got up straight this morning I felt the hemothorax move which was painful enough to take my breath away for a minute or two. I am thinking that when layed flat it moves into a position that doesn't collapse the lung and then when upright it collapses the lung again. Need to talk to doc about it really.