TromboneAl
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jun 30, 2006
- Messages
- 12,880
I thought I'd pass on some of the things I've learned about blood pressure, and show you the results of the experiments I've been doing.
At age 58, my blood pressure fluctuates around the border between pre-hypertension and stage 1 hypertension, despite my being at an ideal weight, exercising a lot, not smoking, not drinking much, and not consuming caffeine.
I visited my new doctor last week, and it was 144/92 in the office (white coat hypertension). I was very impressed with her, and she was not very concerned about it. She's seen the chart below. Note that this is the second doc to be not very concerned.
She offered to put me on medication if I wanted, but agreed with my strategy (see next post).
First Experiment
Last July I started taking 200 mg of CoQ10 every day, since some studies suggested that that would lower blood pressure. I measured my blood pressure every day just after waking. Here are the results:
Each point on the graph is an average of the last five measurements. As you can see...
Conclusion: CoQ10 did not lower my BP. If anything, it raised it.
One problem with my experiments is that my BP varies widely. I can literally have a systolic measurement of 123 one day, and 157 the next. As a result, it's hard to draw conclusions. Note that I take my measurements in a very consistent manner, always sitting down for 1.5 minutes before taking the measurement.
Another problem is that with only one subject (me), other variables can creep in. For example, I suspect that the general rise in BP from July through January is caused by the fact that the house is colder in the winter. The room is around 60 degrees in the morning, and I can't wear a sweater when making the measurements.
In my next post I'll describe my next experiment and strategy.
At age 58, my blood pressure fluctuates around the border between pre-hypertension and stage 1 hypertension, despite my being at an ideal weight, exercising a lot, not smoking, not drinking much, and not consuming caffeine.
I visited my new doctor last week, and it was 144/92 in the office (white coat hypertension). I was very impressed with her, and she was not very concerned about it. She's seen the chart below. Note that this is the second doc to be not very concerned.
She offered to put me on medication if I wanted, but agreed with my strategy (see next post).
First Experiment
Last July I started taking 200 mg of CoQ10 every day, since some studies suggested that that would lower blood pressure. I measured my blood pressure every day just after waking. Here are the results:
Each point on the graph is an average of the last five measurements. As you can see...
Conclusion: CoQ10 did not lower my BP. If anything, it raised it.
One problem with my experiments is that my BP varies widely. I can literally have a systolic measurement of 123 one day, and 157 the next. As a result, it's hard to draw conclusions. Note that I take my measurements in a very consistent manner, always sitting down for 1.5 minutes before taking the measurement.
Another problem is that with only one subject (me), other variables can creep in. For example, I suspect that the general rise in BP from July through January is caused by the fact that the house is colder in the winter. The room is around 60 degrees in the morning, and I can't wear a sweater when making the measurements.
In my next post I'll describe my next experiment and strategy.