twenty years of controlled hypertension

[Happyrosie]

about 20 years ago I was found to have hypertension, at about 190/90 in late fifties. Diet, lifestyle and pills brought it down to 110/70 ish for many years, with pulse of 70.

Lockdown came, so my husband I and decided to add ten minutes of ‘Joe Wicks for seniors’ video each day along with our usual walking.

After about two years my bp was too low, so the dosage on one of my medications was reduced, then one of my tablets stopped altogether.

now the bp is around 115 to 120/80, pulse down to 62. The only changes in these four years is the loss of four kg weight and the extra ten minutes of video exercising. I continue with 10000 paces a day walking and a very sensible diet.

So the purpose of this post is, just ten minutes of additional high(ish) intensity exercise does being bp down.

[Madlegs1]

Thank you.

I used to do the Victoria Secrets 10 mins workout-- but lost it when changing phone.👻

They were very encouraging -- and most enjoyable to work with!😝

I must give Joe a look up!💪

Thank you.

[Happyrosie in reply to Madlegs1]

I also now do Lucy Wyndham-Reed

[Hidden]

I exercise cardio & weights 3 hrs a week and no I still have high bp I also exercised walked everywhere and still had a tia.Even diet and exercise does NOT work for everyone you know lucky you talk about making people feel even more worse that they are doing everything right but still have high bp was happy that my bp was 140/90 just now until I’ve read this 😢

[RedItalianDevil in reply to Hidden]

Hi Hidden, Even after taking 3 types of Meds my BP was still in the140s /90's but my pulse rate went from a normal 60-65 to 45-50 and I felt good, less tense. I was getting readings of high 140s and high 90's so the BP was going down steadily. My readings with the 24 hour monitor were better so I guess the white coat syndrome had an effect on me even though I had a monitor at home. I guess I didn't like it at home either.

I definitely thought I was doing the right thing. At Covid I discovered Joe Wicks just as Happyrosie did and whilst my wife did his videos I knew high intensity workouts ( I play football regularly) were not for me just yet. I discovered yoga instead which then led to a lot of youtube videos about fasting, low carb diets, inflammation etc which resonated with me.

I started eating eggs and vegetables daily along with yoghurts, fermented foods etc and I completely cut out the carbs at the beginning. I never craved them anyway. I was a different person immediately with boundless energy and mental clarity. It was transformative for me. I always thought I ate healthily and sensibly , I was brought up with the small and frequent meals mantra.

Now I eat 2 big meals a day and never snack or even crave food as I feel nourished. Of course I still have carbohydrates and I always advocate that you should add foods to your diet, don't take away the foods you enjoy. If I do have carbs I eat them last on the plate. I have an Italian background so you can understand that avoiding bread and pasta was nigh on impossible.

I have to add that going to the doctor potentially saved my life. I did need the meds initially. I was far too young and healthy to be taking meds (I think I was 45) because of my healthy lifestyle, regular exercise, never smoked, drinking made me ill etc. I went and sought help because I was stressed with a new job. My doctor noticed that my BP was high and I had a 24 hour monitor fitted a few times and I was suffering from regular anxiety episodes, even nearly blacking out during a football game. I never had a great sleep regime either which I absolutely do now.

I never enjoyed taking meds because in the past I had side effects when having taken acne or hayfever medication. I wouldn't even take a headache tablet or ibuprofen for back ache. I absolutely do now. I don't see the point of suffering needlessly.

I never have had side effects with the current BP meds that I've recently stopped ie atenelol, losartan and doxazosin.

I do wish you well Hidden in the future and thanks Happyrosie for your happy story

[Happyrosie]

I’m sorry you have had a TIA. I should have said in my last paragraph “just an extra ten minutes of high intensity workout (along with a good diet and family history) can bring bp down.”.

[Hidden in reply to Happyrosie]

Maybe like I said LUCKY YOU I’d just be happy to get to old age like yourself eh 👌

[Brisk61]

so pleased it has all worked so well for you. 👏

[KBMosia]

HiI totally agree with you. A few years ago I was on medication for hypertension which caused bad side effects. So I changed my lifestyle - healthy eating and exercise, and now I am free of any meds. I hope your post will give some people an incentive to try a change of lifestyle as there's nothing to lose but a lot to gain

[Celestine62]

Absolutely awesome! I love it when I hear of, or see people making tremendous sensible efforts to enhance their well-being or help an existing health condition. I use Dr Joe’s Nitric Oxide Dump exercises to encourage the body to release (or dump) nitric oxide throughout the body (which helps widen & relax blood vessels inner muscles- which is probably the most fantastic thing you can do for better cardiovascular health & lowered BP) Google will find it easily. Joe’s a lovely friendly guy, standing in a garden and instructs on 4 simple standing exercises, which are geared towards these exercises. I’m 62, been hypertensive for 2 years and on 5mg Amlodipine - my nurse was insisting on doubling this as it didn’t seem to being BP down , but I secretly did 2 x sessions with Joe a day and in week 3, BP had dropped to 120/74 from 136/93. I started eating beetroot daily and beetroot powder capsules and drink a lot of (delicious) Hibiscus tea instead of caffeine tea and coffee. I run a mile from salt (!) too. I also increased daily walks. It’s sometimes a bit of a bind, all this DIY-NHS but if it keeps me off mega doses of BP meds and out of hospital, I’d advise any of these tactics! ❤️