-=> Quoting Bob Lawrence to All <=-

Hello Bob,

 BL> Hello all,
 BL> these are the thouhts of Chairman Bob on blood pressure...

 BL> Everyone says that exercise is good for you but no one says why, in
 BL> figures. I've been measuring my blood pressure since the heart attack,
 BL> and I've got the results of an ECG on a treadmill, so I can actually
 BL> put figures to exercise... and its benefits.

 BL> At rest my heart rate was 60 and blood pressure was 130/80. It rose
 BL> to 130 and 165/76 after 8 minutes flat out on the treadmill. I walk at
 BL> that rate for 40 minutes every morning... so why does it do good to
 BL> run your heart hard and your systolic (high value) blood pressure
 BL> high?

 BL> The answer comes if you look at BP over the whole day.

 BL> Time      No walk     5K/40min walk at 0730
 BL> BP              BP  
 BL> 0700     129/72         129/72  
 BL> 0900     128/72         112/73
 BL> 1200     131/70         113/65
 BL> 1500     130/70         115/62
 BL> 1900     126/65         120/62
 BL> 2300     130/65         132/65

 BL> Ave      129/69         120/67   -7%
 BL> Diff       60             53     -12%

 BL> The advantage of exercise is not during the walk itself, but
 BL> afterwards. A 40-minute walk drops blood pressure for most of the day,
 BL> up to 12 hours. In fact, it looks like it would be an advantage to
 BL> take a late-night walk even though it falls during sleep. 

 That's interesting actually.  I was diagnosed with high blood pressure a while
back, and the quacks have been trying to work out why since.  I've been through
all the tests, and passed all.

 It's down now, and I've been trying to work out if it's been the exercise, or
the weight loss.  (Both started at the same time, so I don't know which one
was of real value).
 The quack has been swearing it's the weight loss, although I noticed a
significant change in BP even early on in the piece where I lost only a little
weight.

 BL> Blood pressure behaves in a queer way. The systolic reading (high
 BL> value) goes up and down in a volatile way depending on what's
 BL> happening, and the diasystolic reading (low value) lags behind. The
 BL> difference is a measure of how hard the heart is working.

 This is the other thing I've been trying to work out, what exactly is the
significance of the difference in the numbers?  Mine tends to be quite close,
(relative to others anyway) where other peoples diastolic is less than mine
but their systolic is over the roof.

 BL> If you get angry or go off your head, systolic pressure rises almost
 BL> immediately, from 130/80 to 160/80 say, as the arteries close up, and
 BL> an hour later the two come together at around 145/85 for a long time.

 Haven't tested this, wanna discusion on radar traps?  :-)

 BL> If you *exercise*, a similar thing happens... 130/80 goes to 160/80
 BL> during exercise, but falls to 110/80 immediately afterwards (your
 BL> arteries are wide open to take extra blood), and the two come together
 BL> at 120/75 for a long time.

 I've noticed this.  After my bike run, BP drops quite significantly, but
heart rate stays fairly high.  My resting heart rate has always been high, I've
never seen it below about 70, yet my aunty who never exercises, is slightly
overweight (who would kill me if she found out I said that) has high BP, with
a heart rate (resting) of about 55.

 I don't know if she's doing something right, or me wrong...

 BL> Losing your rag can leave you with a BP of
 BL> 145/85 all day (60 differential)y, and exercise leaves you with 120/75
 BL> (45 differential). The damage blood pressure does is a long-term
 BL> effect and 10 points is significant.

 I used to live with a constant 145/92 (or close) all the time.  I've dropped
to around 125/83 (or close) now, and sometimes I've seen it lower.  And I STILL
can't put my finger on what makes it go bonkers.

John Tserkezis, Sydney, Oz. Fidonet: 3:712/610  Internet: jt{at}suburbia.com.au

... Memory Map:  A Sheet Of Paper Showing Location Of Computer Store.
---