blood pressure

feel
feel Posts: 800
edited January 2008 in Road beginners
Rather than hijack the exhaustion thread i have cut and pasted a bit to start a new thread, hope the people concerned don't mind.

Steve I wrote:
Checked my blood pressure on a home tester and it's consistently 125/58, great, I've got both high and low blood pressure

feel wrote
Hi Steve, my blood pressure is often similar to yours and i was equally confused at the high and low. However, after a little research i found out that the difference between the systolic (high) and Diastolic (low) figures should be within 40 of each other and that a large difference can indicate hardening of the arteries Would be interested if anyone knows anything related, similar or to the contrary. Apologies for being OT






Steve I
Joined: 21 Oct 2006
Posts: 235



Posted Wed Jan 9, 2008 12:15 pm
Hi feel, I'm not all that concerned about the strange readings, but I did worry a bit last night when searching the internet about what you said. If I had hardening of the arteries I doubt very much if I'd have won my club's hill climb last year. Checked my BP this morning and it was 123/67, I haven't a clue what this means. Rather ominously though, for all middle aged to older aged endurance athletes (not just cyclists), I did find this; http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2004/Projects/J1018.pdf
I'm 45 years old with a resting heart rate usually below 50 BPM and if I lie down and keep still for a few minutes in the evening, sometimes as low as 40. I've always had a nagging suspicion that having a fairly well developed cardio vascular system isn't necessarily good for your health in the long term. This study seems to point in that direction.

The internet is like a medical encyclopedia, you can worry yourself sick reading about what you might have. Better to seek advice from an expert if really worried I think.

regards

Steve
We are born with the dead:
See, they return, and bring us with them.

Comments

  • feel
    feel Posts: 800
    GixerJas
    Joined: 30 Dec 2007
    Posts: 5
    Location: Penzance, Cornwall


    Posted Wed Jan 9, 2008 1:21 pm
    I had my blood pressure tested whilst I was visiting my doctors a coupe of months ago, mine was 122/55. After a bit of research it seems that my systolic pressure is fine and within normal limits but I haven't had much luck finding a suitable explanation for the low diastolic reading. I'm guessing that it is linked to a low resting heart rate, with the associated lower cardiac output, although it would be nice to know if there's any significance.

    I am interested if this big difference between systolic and diastolic pressure (the pulse pressure) is common amongst cyclists
    We are born with the dead:
    See, they return, and bring us with them.
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    listen to what your DOCTOR says. Not this forum.

    Dennis noward
  • feel
    feel Posts: 800
    dennisn wrote:
    listen to what your DOCTOR says. Not this forum.

    Dennis noward

    Well Dennis, since you are on the forum i won't listen to you :wink:

    Seriously though, i don't think anyone would advocate ignoring a doctor's advice or taking the advice of a faceless poster on a message board. However, an increased awareness of your own health can hardly be a bad thing and if it prompts a visit to a GP and a discussion/check-up that would be a good thing, especially for men who are notoriously bad at presenting.
    We are born with the dead:
    See, they return, and bring us with them.
  • garethe
    garethe Posts: 32
    Your blood pressure is normal , your low pulse rate and BP reflect the fact that your heart can pump a good volume of blood into healthy blood vessels

    both systolic and diastolic pressures reflect the resistance of your arteries

    low pulse rate does not mean your cardiac output is low - think about blowing your tyres up with a track pump (this represents a trained athletic heart) in your garage = easy
    then think about pumping your tyre up in the rain at the side of the road with a mini pump this is a untrained sedentary heart


    http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2004/Projects/J1018.pdf
    this is absolute rubbish and written by a school student do not take this as medical research this is why the internet is dangerous !
  • feel
    feel Posts: 800
    garethe wrote:


    http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2004/Projects/J1018.pdf
    this is absolute rubbish and written by a school student do not take this as medical research this is why the internet is dangerous !

    you're right that this is just a kid's project and is certainly not, by any stretch of the imagination, valid medical research. It does however raise an interesting question as to whether or not athlete's develop a larger pulse pressure as their resting heart rate decreases. Medical research will deal with large numbers of people to make the study statistically valid and it is well documented that there are risks associated with an increased pulse pressure, but is an increased pulse pressure in a small section of the population, namely cyclists, also an indication of the possible health risks that affect the normal population who do not do undertake so much continual exercise.

    I would be very interested to see other peoples pulse pressure (the difference between the top and bottom blood pressure figures)
    We are born with the dead:
    See, they return, and bring us with them.

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