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
1 comment:
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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