I bought a machine to monitor my blood pressure on the advice of my Doctor. Great idea huh? All its done since I bought it has put me into a blind panic as the first reading is always something like 195/105. After 3 or 4 goes this comes down to around 134/90, but apparently the 90 reading is an indicator of potential problems. Oddly enough my resting pulse rate is around 50! I gave up smoking at 40 (I'm 45 now), and generally try to eat sensibly. Once a week I might have a pizza, or a mixed kebab from the local kebab shop. At weekends I might have the odd bacon roll or English breakfast, but generally throughout the week I eat Muesli or Yoghurt for breakfast, salad for lunch with NO meat and chicken or fish and vegetables in the evening (no spuds). I ride an exercise bike every night for 20 minutes on a sweaty fat busting programme with pushes the pulse to 140 and allegedly burns around 600 calories and I'm about to dust down my real bike for the summer. I may even buy a road racer for some early morning road riding (the other bike is better for the evenings when i can go off and on road). I drink once a week on average on a Friday, and yes it is a binge, but I'd be amazed if that was enough to elevate the BP. I think I live a healthier lifestyle than a lot of people my age. Despite all this my battle with my weight is a yo-yo. I seem to have to fight to keep it where it is and yet no matter how few calories i eat, and how much exercise I do, very little seems willing to drop off.
On Monday I have to undergo an ECG, and on the 27th I have a blood test for which I have to fast for 12 hours beforehand. I have a theory though. My Mum had an underactive thyroid gland, and my Dad had high blood pressure. The underactive thyroid, if a genetic tendency exists, might explain the inability to lose weight and the slower metabolism/lower pulse rate, whilst the high blood pressure might be a genetic inheritance over which I can do little except try and mitigate the aggravating factors. Watch this space as the next few weeks will hopefully provide a few answers and consequently some answers.
Thanks Mum. Thanks Dad.
Later, Grocerjack
This decreases the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream and ultimately decreases the amount of oxygenated blood reaching the heart muscle. Cigarette smoke contains nicotine, a substance that causes the adrenal gland to stimulate the release of a hormone that causes your blood pressure to rise abruptly. http://www.chantixhome.com/
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