BLOOD PRESSURE TESTING and YOUR HEART

After my annual physical last week, I was stunned to learn, for the first time in my life, my blood pressure scores were in the very high range. My doctor tested the BP three times, and each test revealed a score much higher than I normally have. Wow! This rocked my world and I still don’t know why the scores were so high.

Since my physical, I’ve done research on blood pressure testing, and among other important lessons, I learned what we knew all along, BP testing is extremely important. High blood pressure can promote stress on your arteries and eventually lead to heart failure. High BP can reduce the elasticity of your arteries, which results in less blood flow going to your heart.

It can also make your heart pump harder, which isn’t exactly a positive. When the heart is forced to pump harder, you will probably develop a thickened and enlarged left ventricle, which significantly increases the risk of a heart attack

Knowing your blood pressure score can help you make adjustments, if necessary, in your lifestyle. Those lifestyle changes can help lower a dangerously high score without taking drugs, I’m talking about exercise, eliminating smoking, and/or reducing alcohol consumption, changing your diet, reducing salt intake, and getting adequate sleep.

Before I tell you what I’ve learned about the BP testing procedure, let me start by explaining what I do every time I check my BP.

• I sit down, immediately put on the cuff, and start my first test.
• Starting just last week, the first test score is usually very high and scary, such as 149/88. Thankfully, at least my pulse is usually in the normal range, because I work out every day.
• My second test score is usually also in the high range, but not as high as the first one. Is this the start of a downward trend?
• By the time I get to my third and fourth BP test, my BP score drops down into the normal range for my age group.
• Note: That would not be normal for a 25-year-old, but is considered normal for seniors.

BLOOD PRESSURE TESTING RESEARCH

I went to several medical sites and tried to gather information which all, or at least most of them, agree on. Each site has slightly different recommendations, but here are several guidelines that are very consistent.

• Buy a BP test kit which has a cuff which goes around your upper arm. They are more accurate than the ones which go around your wrist.
• The medical sites recommend the best time to check your BP and the times of day you should avoid testing. For example, if you just exercised, wait at least 30-40 minutes. BP is usually higher in the morning, so they recommend waiting until later in the day. Don‘t check your BP immediately after consuming caffeinated beverages or after smoking.
• Unlike me, don’t sit down and immediately take your blood pressure. They all agree it’s important to relax, make yourself comfortable, sit up straight, and wait 4-5 minutes before taking the test. I realize I should follow that recommendation, but I have no patience, so I never conduct the tests following the recommended protocol.
• Never rely on just one BP test. All of the sites generally recommend checking your blood pressure at least 3, or possibly 4 times.
• Never rely on the score from your first test. That’s why you should take multiple tests. In general, they tell you to take the average score of 3 or 4 BP tests.
• Unfortunately, in the past couple of weeks, my initial test score was usually very high, such as 149/88 or 144/87. That scared me big time! However, on the second test, my score usually drops somewhat. By the time I get to the third test, my score usually drops back into the normal range for my age group. Is this the start of a pattern?
• That is one reason why I should wait several minutes before taking my first test. But I’ve always suffered from a complete lack of patience. Unfortunately, even though I should, I almost always fail to follow  the proper protocol. As a result, that winds up causing unnecessary stress in my life when I see those incredibly  high BP scores on my initial one or two tests.
• Here’s the big lesson I’ve learned from the above. What I suspected about my BP scoring pattern is true. If you do in fact have high blood pressure, it will remain consistent. In other words, even on the secondi, third, and fourth test, your BP score will remain high. Thankfully, that isn’t the case for me.
• Therefore, if  your first test score is very high, but subsequent test scores drop down into the normal range, they said you can ignore the first test score in your average. Wheeeewww ………. Learning about this important aspect of BP testing made me feel much better.

I highly recommend you purchase a quality Blood Pressure test kit and regularly check/monitor your blood pressure.