Blood Pressure 143/81; should I be worried??

Run more, reduce sodium intake, and see a doctor.

/:;(66$75347)&86 wrote:

Just checked my BP, had reading of 143/81. Should I be concerned, is there anything I should begin to change or do?

You're fine. Mine is about the same and I run 6-7 days a week all year round.

Above 140 is not good. See a doctor.

You very likely do not need to worry. 140/90 is a cut off that is used for screening.

Many things can affect blood pressure. Were you at rest for 5 min before taking your pressure? Was it on a calibrated machine? Is that you second or third reading in succession (We frequently take a few measurements and throw out the first measurement because the patient is not fully at rest yet).

one reading isn't much to base anything out of. Take a few readings first thing in the morning over the course of a few days. If you drink alcohol, that elevates the reading too.

Stop ingesting caffeine.

A friend of mine had high blood pressure all her life, and had drunk tea every day all her life, until 7 years ago.

At that time she was having major problems, weakness, out of whack thyroid hormones, continued high cholesterol and high blood pressure, and loss of body functioning. Her resting heart rate was 90 (including previously when she won quite a few age group awards and ran a number of marathons).

However, 7 years ago she was having such weakness and loss of energy that her body was in danger of failing and she almost died. She stopped drinking tea, threw away anything that contained caffeine, transfat or any other toxic chemicals, and completely changed her diet.

She improved immediately, continued to improve, is now strong again and has plenty of energy.

Her resting heartrate is now 60.

I recommend that you do whatever it takes to be healthy, yourself, and which does not include seeing a doctor.

/:;(66$75347)&86 wrote:

Just checked my BP, had reading of 143/81. Should I be concerned, is there anything I should begin to change or do?

I wouldn't worry.

After workouts/hard days/races mine is typically around 146/65 and I've got a resting hr of 40 with a max of 203.

819 wrote:

If you drink alcohol, that elevates the reading too.

This.

Yes, don't see a doctor, but listen to some knucklehead who tells you crazy story about his friend and tea. Suuuuure...

(by the way, both cocoa and tea, which contain caffeine, have been shown to reduce BP, especially cocoa. So much for your bs)

See a doctor for sure. Hypertension (high BP) is a huge problem in the US, and 95% of the cases are due to unknown (idiopathic) causes. It is important to recognize that anything above or equal to 120/80 is prehypertension, above 140/90 is stage one hypertension. If both of your values aren't above these, then the higher one is automatically used as if the other one was high too. At least two separate readings at the physicians office must have this for diagnosis.

You can do lots to get it back down. Start by cutting out the caffeine, stop eating as much fatty foods, and try to sleep better. Stress is a huge factor here too. Its important to cut it down now because once it gets to a certain stage it is self perpetuating, no matter what you do. Your early now, so just see a doctor soon and they'll help you out.

I would be concerned. I just read another thread about how elite athletes don't live as long. Don't need high BP on top of that fact.

really? because i don't consume much caffeine or fatty food and sleep 8-9 hours a night and my doctors (like, over the last six years) have all said that as long as the second number is within normal range, seeing 130-150 isn't a big deal, especially seeing as how we're, you know, athletes.

i guess i'll take their word over yours, though.

Newsclues is exactly right. For a long time, doctors have been trained to believe that if the systolic pressure was high, but the disastolic pressure was in range, there was no problem. Studies have since proven this to be false. If either number is elevated beyond normal range, one will see the same negative health effects.

You have pre-hypertension, and you need to see a doctor that was born after 1980 so you're getting medical advice that wasn't current when Marcus Welby was on television.

I had very similar BP for a year or so (145/90-ish). Eliminating caffeine did have some effect, but it was still in the 130s/80s. Quitting my stressful job was what brought it down the most. My BP has been well below 120/80 for over four years now. I just took several readings and came back with an average of 107/68 (high reading of 111/70).

Your BP isn't so high that it's going to cause you immediate problems. The concern is that the effect is cumulative, and BP only increases as you get older. Chances are you can make some relatively small changes that will bring your BP down into a healthy range.

it is probably too low, which is as dangerous as if it is too high. Drink more cacao, tea, or coffee (not more transfat of course) and eat healthy, And keep exercising.

take your crackpot stories elsewhere. Studies show that people who drink tea are HEALTHIER than those who do not. Buzz off.

The dangerous thing about crackpot bull$hit stories like the "tea" story is that it gets one thing right: reduce your caffeine intake. The story starts with one good, reasonable suggestion and then spirals into a bat$hit crazy, anecdotal festival of lies. Unfortunately, people automatically give the story more credibility because it started off with a simple truth that everyone already understands to some degree.

Take your garbage elsewhere.

So thanks all for the goof info! Another question, why the reduction in caffeine? I thought caffeine was a diuretic thus decreasing the fluid & pressure in your cardo vessels, yes or no? So why the reduction?

Thank you, Common.

I found this out after being a patient with high systolic and low diastolic blood pressure, as well as having learned this in medical school over and over again, to undue the previous attitude from past generations of physicians.

Common- I'm interested to hear that you got your blood pressure down the most from stress. I feel that my high blood pressure is a combination of high stress (early stages of medical career, there is a lot of it) and my training (about 9 miles a day, 6 min pace). It concerns me that I won't be able to cut out the stress for the next 6 years or so until residency is good and finished and the career is on a nice even track...

Caffeine has mild diuretic effects, and you're right that decreasing plasma volume should decrease blood pressure. However, caffeine also will cause sympathomimetic physiological effects, meaning that it will tell your body to tense your blood vessels (making them narrower, increasing mostly diastolic pressure) and increase the heart rate as well as force for every contraction ("contractility") which will increase your systolic pressure. The more narrow the vessels, the more shear force there is on the lining (endothelium) which can cause inflammation, and a long story short yet more narrowing as a consequence. This process takes years, but many of us depend on at least two cups coffee for decades on end.