Really need to lower blood pressure

[Lean L]

Hello,

I recently checked my blood pressure yesterday. I am 141/91. This is pretty crappy and I am honestly concerned about my health at this point.

What is the best way to lower my blood pressure. My blood pressure has been high my entire life. Is it a possibility that it is normal for me?

Some things I already do:
Exercise 3-4x a week for an hour
Reduced sodium.

 

[Anubis]

Might be worth seeing your Doc to see if you can find out why exactly you have HBP

 

[kalrith]

What's your height and weight? I think that losing some weight can lower bp.

If you can't get it down, then definitely see a doc. Having chronic HBP for many years can lead to a lot of health problems.

 

[Sid59]

Hello,

I recently checked my blood pressure yesterday. I am 141/91. This is pretty crappy and I am honestly concerned about my health at this point.

What is the best way to lower my blood pressure. My blood pressure has been high my entire life. Is it a possibility that it is normal for me?

Some things I already do:
Exercise 3-4x a week for an hour
Reduced sodium.

Diet? Ideally, you'll want to be 100% truthful and document what you eat and drink for a week and examine it.

 

[KIAman]

What do you do for exercise?

I also had high blood pressure in the range of 140/95ish. I was on medication for couple years which held it down to around 125/80. It added up to enough money that I could easily buy a gym membership for my entire family. So I did and stopped my medication against my doctor's advice.

I started to work out, doing lots of weight training. Mostly beginner weight training stuff. I did not modify me eating habits (which are really bad) and after 6 months, my pressure dropped to 130/80.

Fast forward another 3 months and control my eating habits a little better and I am solid around 120/75. My doctor couldn't believe it and even asked me to lose 10 lbs to bring it down even further.

Now I'm not saying doing weight training will fix your problem but whatever type of exercise you do, ensure you get some high intensity stuff in there not just low level cardio, expecially if you only go 1 hour per session.

 

[Lean L]

I'm 5'10" 185lbs.

I do some weights and pushups 3-4x a week. Think I should add some additional cardio?

 

[Lean L]

I also have low cholesterol both HDL and LDL. I think that is part of the issue.

 

[blackdogdeek]

post exact workouts you do and exact food you eat.

 

[highland145]

Mine is directly salt related (and I don't add salt to anything). Plenty of cadrio/sweating and I'm good. 4+ days/week. When I used to slack off, even 2 weeks, 150/100. Been on an A.C.E. inhibitor for years, 10mg.

If you can't/won't/do not want to go see a Dr. then I'd try the cardio. Long term high BP is bad, bad, bad. Otherwise, add the cardio and see a Dr.

Weights/pushups aren't necessarily cardio, imo.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I'm 5'10" 185lbs.

I do some weights and pushups 3-4x a week. Think I should add some additional cardio?

Yes, as far as I've read, there's not much research showing resistance training affects blood pressure very much. Endurance exercise or even high intensity interval training does. If you do that for ~2 months and you still have no change, you should definitely see your doctor as having that kind of BP (stage 1 hypertension) doubles your risk of a heart attack. It's something that can easily be controlled with medication and really needs to be, especially if you can't control it with exercise and diet alone.

 

[Raghu]

Do you have a stressful job/life? You can try yoga/tai-chi.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Do you have a stressful job/life? You can try yoga/tai-chi.

Hypertension is rarely a direct result of stress. Breathing programs, yoga, and tai-chi have only shown minimal changes in BP (like 4-6mm Hg systolic). Most people feel better with these programs, yes, but they typically do not have a large physiologic effect on BP.

 

[rga]

I lost 80 pounds and my blood pressure didn't change. It was always between 140-155/100-110. That's high, but 140/100 is the lower end of high... but still.

Three weeks ago I began doing steady state cardio. Started with a brisk walk at 4mph, now up to a jog at 5.5mph. 30-60 minutes, 3x week, depending how I feel. Saturday, for the first time (since I've been checking my own blood pressure, anyway) my blood pressure was in the normal range at 138/98. I attribute this to the cardio I added, because nothing else was really dropping it.

You mentioned you excercise, but you didn't specifically say what you were doing. If it's resistance training, maybe add a few 30 minute sessions of cardio per week and see in a couple of weeks if there's any change.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I lost 80 pounds and my blood pressure didn't change. It was always between 140-155/100-110. That's high, but 140/100 is the lower end of high... but still.

Three weeks ago I began doing steady state cardio. Started with a brisk walk at 4mph, now up to a jog at 5.5mph. 30-60 minutes, 3x week, depending how I feel. Saturday, for the first time (since I've been checking my own blood pressure, anyway) my blood pressure was in the normal range at 138/98. I attribute this to the cardio I added, because nothing else was really dropping it.

You mentioned you excercise, but you didn't specifically say what you were doing. If it's resistance training, maybe add a few 30 minute sessions of cardio per week and see in a couple of weeks if there's any change.

Not to derail this thread, but 140/100 is not lower end of high. The diastolic pressure (100mm Hg) puts you in stage II hypertension, which is a very, very high risk group. This needs to be treated by a physician. Even 138/90 is still stage I hypertension (based on the diastolic number again), which puts you at an increased risk of heart attack. I don't mean to panic you, but you may want to have something else done besides exercise because those numbers need to get down.

 

[Sixguns]

HBP runs in my family(moms side) so I have always been concerned. Since I lost weight and started exercising, mine has gotten in the low range of normal. My doctor has said that I need to keep up the good work. My mom has been on meds for years for hers and I really dont want to ever get on anything like that.

 

[Bulldog13]

Me and my family have had great success with Hawthorn Berries.

They got my aunt off of high blood pressure meds completely (with the help of her MD).
They stopped my father's night time arrhythmia.
They dropped my bottom number 10 points.

Here is what I use :
http://www.amazon.com/Natures-Way-Ha...words=hawthorn

Granted all of this evidence is anecdotal, but I would give these a shot for a few weeks and see where you BP ends up.

 

[ichy]

Isn't the connection between sodium and BP actually kind of iffy? Best things to do are probably lose weight and more cardio.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Isn't the connection between sodium and BP actually kind of iffy? Best things to do are probably lose weight and more cardio.

Yes, but it's still used by doctors religiously. Even the diets they suggest are outdated - they're so limiting that people just don't comply at all.

 

[kalrith]

Yes, but it's still used by doctors religiously. Even the diets they suggest are outdated - they're so limiting that people just don't comply at all.

So, according to research, what diets are good for lowering BP?

 

[rga]

Not to derail this thread, but 140/100 is not lower end of high. The diastolic pressure (100mm Hg) puts you in stage II hypertension, which is a very, very high risk group. This needs to be treated by a physician. Even 138/90 is still stage I hypertension (based on the diastolic number again), which puts you at an increased risk of heart attack. I don't mean to panic you, but you may want to have something else done besides exercise because those numbers need to get down.

I've spoken to my family doctor. I was on high blood pressure medication in my early 20s, but I was living a shitty life then. A lot of smoking. A lot of drinking. A lot of processed foods and ordering in. A lot of drugs, too.

I've only been exercising regularly for just over a year now, and the bulk of that has been body weight exercises; I began Starting Strength at the end of May. As for cardio, I only started walking about three weeks ago, and only started jogging about a week or so ago. I'm seeing improvement through exercise, and I want to see how much improvement I can get before I go back to relying on medication.

Thanks for your concern, and it's one I share. I'd like to keep doing cardio for another 6 months to a year and see where I am then. I'm going to go for another physical next summer, and if my blood pressure is still high even after all the exercise, I'll start on medication again.

Sorry to derail the thread. Just thought I'd reply to SC's post.

 

[Kaido]

What time do you go to bed? Back when I had sleeping problems my blood pressure was like 147. Once I was able to sleep - both going to bed early and getting 7-8 hours - it dropped dramatically. Apparently your body has to work harder to keep you awake & moving when you are short on sleep, so your blood pressure goes up. I also have more energy now.

 

[bononos]

Hypertension is rarely a direct result of stress. Breathing programs, yoga, and tai-chi have only shown minimal changes in BP (like 4-6mm Hg systolic). Most people feel better with these programs, yes, but they typically do not have a large physiologic effect on BP.

Perhaps the stress is not only what is going inside an individual's head but also related to the social condition eg growing socio-economic stratification. I doubt some esoteric exercises would be of much use if someone was fearful of losing his job and medical coverage.

 

[alkemyst]

That BP isn't that extreme...a simple diuretic pill like Hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) would probably solve it.

Vitamin K and Calcium is good to take (apples, avocado, bananas, broccolli, fish, grapes, oats, OJ, plenty of water. Co-Q10 120mg and l-carnitine 1000mg is recommended too. Flax Oil and fish oil with at least 600mg EPA and 400 DHA is useful.

Garlic is good. Vit C 500mg, Vit D 400IU, Vit E 200mg, a B complex, Folic Acid 400 micrograms, Niacin 100mg, calcium of 700mg, magnesium 250-300mg, potassium 2500mg (esp this if taking a diuretic).

 

[OlafSicky]

What is your BMI?

 

[Wreckem]

Its anecdotal but so far I've gone from 300lbs to 253.3lbs(BMI of 41 to BMI of 33.6). Along the way I went from 145/85 with a resting heart rate of 90, to 110/70 with a resting heart rate of 70. Of course my sodium intake is currently 50% of what it was(2000mg vs 4000mg) and my caffeine intake is almost non existent. I don't have caffeine every day, and days I do it is very limited, where as before it was ~6 sodas/teas a day. During this time frame, I haven't exercised that much on a regular basis. I hope to start exercising on a regular basis soon because I really want to get down to 200lbs.

I'd say cut 15-20lbs, eat healthier/lower salt/lower caffeine, and do cardio. That should lower it to a normal range. If it doesn't you are probably going to eventually end up on bp medication.