My Journey With Health And Fitness – Blood Pressure

And the deep freeze has begun. Yesterday was our weekly coffee group and normally I would run to the coffee shop and back (2 km each way). However, we are in the midst of arctic air coming through our area which brings freezing cold. When I got up in the morning yesterday I checked my weather app to find that with the wind chill it was bloody cold. I opted instead of running to do an extra 1/2 hour set on the treadmill during the day.

About 20 years ago I was diagnosed with hypertension (high blood pressure) and trust me it was bad. I had just gotten a new doctor and when I went for my 1st appointment with him he checked my blood pressure and it was 190/100. That’s pretty bad especially since I was only about 37 years old. However, I worked in a high stress job where I was often putting in 60 hours per week and I was obese. He put me on some medication which brought my BP down to around 140/85 which is still high. Hence, I stopped drinking caffeine (though I made it clear if my BP didn’t come down I would be back on my beloved coffee) and that helped get me into the normal range (though just barely).

Why is high blood pressure (hypertension) such a concern. Well, over the long term high blood pressure does significant damage to your arteries. This then can lead to some pretty major risk factors including heart attack, stroke, vision loss and kidney failure to name a few. Obviously these are all life threatening risks which is why it is so important to try and keep your blood pressure within normal range. I do acknowledge that medications have improved over the past couple decades but interesting some of my family are on the same medications that I was on for so long.

So, what can be done to help with high blood pressure? Certainly medication is helpful but it is not the end all be all of reducing blood pressure. Lifestyle changes are extremely important in helping reduce blood pressure levels. This includes exercising. To be clear, it is not about exercising the way I do. The current recommendation from the American Heart Association is for 150 minutes of physical activity each week which means a nice 30 minute walk 5 days a week. Other things are eating a healthy diet, limiting alcohol, managing stress, maintaining a healthy weight, quitting smoking, taking medications as prescribed and working with your doctor.

As you know, I implemented many changes into my lifestyle nearly 3 years ago. The important ones for me were exercising and losing weight. This resulted in me being completely taken off my blood pressure medications. Today my blood pressure averages 105/75 which is awesome. I know I have mentioned that along with Dry Feb (can’t believe it is day 23 already) my husband has started exercising at least 5 days a week. He is focusing on the recumbent exercise bike as well as some weight training. Now my husband is on medication for hypertension and he acknowledges that he needs to lose some weight and so he is working on things. But yesterday after 3 weeks of his exercise regime something happened, his blood pressure for the 1st time in years was in the normal range. We aren’t getting too excited about this as it was only 1 reading but it is a sign of hope that he too can get healthier.

So, if you suffer from high blood pressure, talk to your doctor about changes you can make to help it get lower. I am the poster child of showing how following most of the recommendations can get you to a healthier place. Now I’m hoping we can do the same for my husband so that we get to grow old together. To me, that is the ultimate goal.