Blood Pressure During The Day

[jyl]

There was a thread recently about how to reduce one's blood pressure.

That got me interested in looking at my own blood pressure and how it changes in response to time of day, my situation, activity, and maybe some counter-measures. I'm going to show what I am seeing, and I'd be interested in any thoughts/comments. Data is presented as "systolic/diastolic heartrate". I use a cheap wrist cuff device, not sure how accurate but it is convenient.

5/8

9:15 pm laying quietly in bed 120/82 56 and a little later 126/79 55

5/9

2:10 am woke in middle of night, in bed 119/75 45
4:32 am woke up, still half-asleep, in bed 114/73 41 lowest HR I've ever recorded
6:57 am at work, reading emails 130/82 63 hmm, this seems like borderline hypertensive
9:53 am at work, market open, watching stocks move, my daily performance teetering on negative today 147/93 49
10:08 am at work, decided to lay down on the floor and relax for five minutes, curious to see what would happen 128/78 51
1:35 pm at work, reading a kind of disappointing earnings report 146/92 52 nteresting my BP seems to react differently from my HR, they don't go up/down together

I'm going to post the rest of today, then tonight I will start drinking an assload of beet juice and stop adding salt to my food, and in a couple days I will check if that reduces my BP. Supposedly the beet juice should act quickly, I don't know about the salt intake reduction.

[RWebb]

get some sun

[masraum]

What kind of shape are you in? Your heart rate is quite low (mine is too). I'm in OK shape, but certainly not in the shape of a marathon runner so that I'd expect to have a heart rate in the 40s. I've only noticed that my heart rate was this low (resting between 40 and 50) in the past year or two. I don't have any of the symptoms of a low heart rate like fatigue, weakness or dizziness. I exercise and don't have any problems rollerblading several miles at a pretty constant pace.

I think my BP has always been in the 120/80 - 130/90 range.

I've been curious about monitoring my BP/HR throughout the day like you do, but haven't gone as far as to actually do it.

Interesting data.

[jyl]

5/9 cont

3:22 pm at work, just finished a meeting, trying to catch up on the tail end of a conference call 154/99 54
4:12 pm left office, starting my bike ride to the bar 169/102 62
4:22 pm during ride 166/95 99
4:37 pm during ride 145/97 108
(The "ride" measurements - I stop and wait until my heart rate has declined enough for the machine to work, it doesn't work if my chest is heaving and heartrate high - need to wait about 2 minutes. I was not pushing hard, HR was probably 150-160 bpm before I pulled off to measure.)
4:56 pm been hanging out at the bar for 10-15 min, drinking an IPA. 127/88 78
5:18 pm still at the bar, now working on a pint of brown 129/80 71

I'm alarmed at how high my BP gets when I'm working. This is not a particularly stressful day, its pretty quiet actually.

[2porscheguy]

John, those are pretty good numbers....however I would question the accuracy of the cheap wrist cuff thingy. Do yourself a favour and get yourself a true automated sphygmomanometer that measures your BP at the brachial artery (upper arm, above the elbow)....much more accurate to give you peace of mind.

[Tobra]

It will vary from side to side. You want to worry about the lower number I believe, it stays too high, you start blowing gaskets, so to speak. You look at resting, exercising and how long to recover after revving it up a bit.

Yeah, the wrist cuffs sort of suck, you want to do it above the elbow.

[jyl]

Ok, I will get a better BP meter.

Masraum, I'm in okay shape but not an athlete: I ride my bike to work and on errands, about 2 hours/week on the bike w/ HR 140-160 on a routine basis, then most weeks I go to the gym and do spin class 1-2X. Trying to lose weight but haven't gotten anywhere. Kind of at the very upper edge of normal weight per BMI tables. 50 y/o.

The BP readings I got this afternoon at work are higher than I normally see - I've measured BP at work with this cuff many times before.

[RWebb]

Sunshine Lowers Blood Pressure, Prolongs Life : Health & Medicine : Nature World News

[jyl]

But I live in Portland . . .

[vash]

Monitors qualify for flex spending. Jus sayin.

[Jandrews]

I think it is great that you are interested in seeing your readings over a period of time, and more importantly, how they respond to various activities throughout your day. I do the same thing, and also use a wrist cuff. I used a regular arm cuff for a while and found that I got similar readings with my wrist cuff. That said, if the docs here suggest an arm band, I might look at getting another one.

I am not a doc, but I would certainly be concerned about the numbers you are seeing. I would think if you are pushing 160/95+ on a daily basis, you would be subject to a host of impacts from chronic elevated pressure. Again, I am no doc, but I wouldn't want those numbers. How do you feel when you are at 160/95?

Would love to see if we have any cardiologists here on the board to get their opinion, but I can't imagine anyone not saying those numbers are high (and potentially dangerous).

JA

[jyl]

5/9 cont

5:52 pm now the beet juice experiment starts. drink 8 oz beet juice sitting in armchair at home, immediately before that I am 127/81 72
6:09 pm lying in the sun taking a little nap 98/64 75
6:12 pm lying in the sun taking a little nap 107/66 71
6:32 pm sitting up on the grass eating fish tacos with the kids 119/79 79
7:16 pm lying in bed 100/60 76
9:17 pm lying in bed 104/61 55

The BP readings during this day are more variable than I expected.

The high readings are all associated with being at work, in front of the monitors, watching numbers flash, reading press releases, listening to calls, making decisions. It didn't feel like a stressful day at all and my HR didn't get elevated but maybe work makes me uptight even though I don't know it.

The low numbers are when I'm laying down, which makes sense: I'm reading that BP is 5-8 pts lower when prone (below). But I've never seen 100/60 before. I wonder if that is the beet juice releasing its nitrates?

"The National Guideline Clearinghouse explains that diastolic blood pressure is approximately 5 mm/Hg higher when sitting than when lying down. Reports indicate that systolic pressure is 8 mm/Hg higher in the lying-down position than in the sitting position, but only when the person taking the blood pressure measurement positions the patient’s arm so that it is at the same level as the right atrium of the heart. Back support and leg position also play a role in blood pressure measurements. Crossing the legs increases systolic pressure by as much as 8 mm Hg."

Also, the "ride" measurements were taken when I was standing, straddling the bike, having just pulled off the road a minute or so ago. I'm reading that there isn't usually a big or consistent difference in BP between standing and sitting (except if your BP drops suddenly when you stand up, called "orthostatic hypotension", I don't have that). But I still wonder how accurate or significant those "ride" readings are.

JA, I'm not happy about those high numbers either. At 160/95 in the office I feel fine, lots of energy, working intently. On the bike I feel great.

[jyl]

I'm going to bring some beet juice to work tomorrow and see if it makes a difference in that environment.

[RWebb]

take a bath in beet juice while sunbathing

seriously, have you discussed this with your PCP?

[aigel]

Very disturbing John. Definitely get a better / different cuff and cross check your values. If these are real values, it sure looks like work is stressing you out in a major way. Maybe a career change is in order? Or at least look into the psycho side of why you are so stressed? I would also go see a cardiologist and get their input and maybe even a long term monitor from them for a pro-readout.

I have nice low pressure on a daily basis usually. I had high pressure when I got stressed over something serious at work (not a daily event) and was feeling funny. Went to the nearest pharmacy and got a reading at 140 / 90. I could feel the pressure in my cranium. I can't imagine how 160+ feels like. I was never worried about this effect as the trigger event usually only happens every couple years or so and is limited to a few days. But what you describe is chronic, even though it only happens at work.

Keep us posted!

G

[livi]

Looking good, John!

Still healthy, flexible vessels.

[WilShel]

My Blood Pressure was going a little high during the day under stressfull situations and I didn't want to take any pills so I studied and finally bought the The Zona Plus which is a small handheld isometric therapy device that has been scientifically proven in the overall management of cardiovascular fitness. It has lowered my blood pressure to normal and I feel better than ever. The cost is around $400.00 but well worth it. Here is the web site Improve your cardiovascular health with the Zona Plus!

[john70t]

BP watches/other with feedback mechanisms already on the market.

[jyl]

Doing some reading about blood pressure. One thing I'm learning is that BP has a pattern during the day - lowest at night, rises in morning, highest in afternoon, falls in evening. And that this pattern can cause pretty wide swings in BP. Here is a graph I found - the upper graph is systolic BP, the lower graph is HR, in each graph the upper line is hypertensives (people with high BP), the lower line is normotensives (people with normal BP).


Daily Life Blood Pressure Changes Are Steeper in Hypertensive Than in Normotensive Subjects

[aigel]

John,

What do you conclude from that study?

Seems that your swings are very high, even higher than the hypertension data below, but the absolute values are lower. That HT plot below never hits below 140.

Any monitor shopping?

G