1. Eat Better (whole foods, lots of fruits and vegetables, lean protein, nuts, seeds, and cooking in non-tropical oils such as olive and canola)
2. Be More Active (2½ hours of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week)
3. Quit Tobacco
4. Get Healthy Sleep (7-9 hours of sleep each night)
5. Manage Weight (Optimal BMI is 25)
6. Control Cholesterol
7. Manage Blood Sugar
8. Manage Blood Pressure (Levels less than 120/80 mm Hg are optimal)
Anyone on here have advice on this? I eat primarily vegan and run for at least an hour a day (70-90km/wk), have a resting heart rate in the low 40s, have good (middle of healthy range) cholesterol, blood glucose, and A1C, and yet my blood pressure is persistently in the 130-140 over 70 range. I can’t figure out how to get the top number down and my doctor just sort of shrugs that it’s nothing to worry about but I suspect this is less about the science (which seems to support even lower than 120/80 is healthier) and more due to the baseline blood pressures he sees have been increasing over time due to obesity, inactivity, poor diets, etc.
Anyone in a similar boat who has managed to achieve improvements?
I've also anecdotally found that supplementing magnesium glycinate seemed to help.
Perhaps consider getting some thyroid blood tests? (T3/T4 free, TSH) Mine was elevated which contributed to higher blood pressure.
Also since you're vegan, perhaps check for vitamin, mineral, and nutritional deficiencies.
[1] https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2023/07/02/bjsports-2022-...
You can squeeze a few more points of BP by losing weight if you aren't already bottomed out. While it was the last intervention I tried, going from 20-25% to 15% body fat dropped my systolic 10pts consistently. When I go back to 20% BF, I'm back up 10pts of systolic. It's very sensitive.
The first reason I went plant-based was to optimize my cholesterol since it felt like the only lever I could pull since I'm already jacked and thin. If I'm going to hover around 125/70, I figure I might as well have optimal cholesterol, and I definitely was able to really shrink my LDL (ApoB).
I realized I'm sensitive to sodium. I've mostly replaced sodium salt with potassium salt. But I also noticed that caffeine can add 10 points to the top BP number even a day later. My best BP numbers have been when I've avoided caffeine and sodium for 48 hours.
I've considered experimenting with BP meds but never was motivated enough to pull the trigger.
For body fat, are you doing Dexa scans or how do you measure? My bathroom scale spits out numbers but I doubt they are trustworthy.
As hard as it was I finally ditched caffeine which instantly dropped my systolic down to the 110-115 range. Also feel much better overall. I wasn't even consuming an egregious amount either, always limiting myself to a max of 400mg, typically in the range of 250mg a day.
Unfortunately, I don't see a path to eat, meditate or exercise out of it if you in the good shape already. But controlling sodium intake can help to offset some numbers. To control it, I take medications and must continue taking them permanently.
I strongly believe everyone needs to lift weights. For me it helps with stress. It's a great way to funnel all the days work BS out of your body.
I feel super energized and at the top of the world, even after a quick 20 minute session.
As people get older and they lose muscle/bone density they have a habit of falling down and breaking things, so it's never to late to start. That's my main long term concern.
My back prevents me from lifting weights again. But I'm happy for those who can and do it.
Admittedly, I am inconsistent in high intensity exercise. So in addition to improving that, I’d like to try the wall squats and planks in the recent articles others have mentioned.
My doctor has repeatedly had to remind me that there’s no shame or loss in having to take medication to control it, as long as I’m doing my best with all the other stuff. A low dose of atenolol sets me right (although I don’t like that it limits your heart rate). I’m currently trying lisinopril, doesn’t seem to work as well. I would still prefer to be off BP meds and I hope those other improvements will work, but using meds is better than letting high blood pressure run uncontrolled.
- lower stress
- DASH diet with low carbs in evenings
- 1,5 grams Omega3 per day
- lower salt intake even more
I had that, turned out to be an adenoma on my adrenal gland that was flooding me with aldosterone. That’s a hormone That controls your k/na balance - which controls your bp.
There's a growing movement claiming saturated fats(coconut, palm, animal) are not as bad as once thought and that high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acid(like Omega-6) found in seed oils(canola, soybean, sunflower, etc) are very bad. Hopefully we can get more research into this.
Here’s a good round up: https://www.the-nutrivore.com/post/a-comprehensive-rebuttal-...
Oils with high content of linoleic acid (omega-6), like cold-pressed sunflower oil (which is also very rich in vitamin E) are very healthy in smaller quantities, e.g. 15 to 20 milliliter per day, but they can become harmful in too large quantities, e.g. more than 50 milliliter per day.
For instance, a combination of 50 milliliter per day of EV olive oil with 20 milliliter per day of cold-pressed sunflower oil gives a fatty acid profile that is close to optimal, according to the current knowledge.
Eating only olive oil would require a much greater quantity of oil for providing enough linoleic acid and vitamin E, which would provide too many calories for a sedentary lifestyle.
Eating only sunflower oil in an amount enough to provide an adequate fraction of the daily calories would provide too much linoleic acid.
So only a mixture can satisfy all criteria.
With saturated fats, the effects are similar, in smaller quantities they are healthy, but in large quantities they can be harmful. Olive oil, avocado oil and various kinds of nuts, e.g. almonds, hazelnuts, cashew, pistachio and a few others have a good balance between oleic acid and saturated fats.
The target range for BMI is 18.5 to 24.9.
At 25, you're already overweight. [1]
If you know that BMI isn't accurate, you probably already know what you need to do about yours.
Largely pharmaceutical companies[1] https://www.heart.org/-/media/Files/Finance/21_22_Pharma_Fun...
Novartis Novo Nordisk Inc. Pfizer Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Inc Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals
all being the top contributors.
The maker of Crisco virtually launched the AHA as a nation-wide powerhouse in 1948 by designating a $17 million grant.
Where is and how much of that type of funding accounted?
The mechanism that causes this is the spike protein (this is well studied now), and applies - perhaps not equally - to COVID infection and COVID immunization
Note that this is in complete opposition to the original claims during the vaccine campaign that the vaccine stayed local in the arm.
But is it plausible for young healthy athletes who exercise, sleep, eat well, and generally take care of themselves?
Asking opinion for a friend.
> The biggest risk factors are high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and obesity, all of which can clog and damage the arteries and blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood to the heart.
> While some of these conditions may be genetic, more often they’re brought on by years of unhealthy habits like poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle that typically begin early in childhood
> COVID is known to activate inflammatory responses in the body and make blood thicker and stickier, Yang said, which can make infected people more susceptible to blood clots that can clog arteries and lead to heart attack. However, it’s still not clear why younger adults appear to be more vulnerable to COVID’s cardiovascular complications.
> The AHA recommends following “Life’s Essential 8”: key measures that, if practiced, can improve and maintain your cardiovascular health. These include a healthy diet, regular physical activity, no tobacco smoking, and sufficient sleep, as well as managing your weight, cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure.