High pressure
In common with nearly two-thirds of my age group, I have high blood pressure. Although I wouldn’t have known without a blood pressure reading, I am told that it is serious. What follows here is an account of my attempts so far to make sense of what is going on.
What is high blood pressure? As I understand it, the body goes into alert mode, ready for action. The adrenalin pumps, the arteries tense in anticipation of heavy demand and the heart works harder. The trouble is, my body has been in that state for so long that it has forgotten how to switch off, to step down from panic level to situation normal. The switch has got stuck on ‘high’. If I’m not careful, the heart is going to wear out from the continual overload.
There might be a hereditary proneness. Both of my parents had high blood pressure, and other family members have it. Does that mean I’m doomed to have it too? Maybe. But I’d rather look for another way through this.
There can be physical causes of high blood pressure. The arteries narrow as fatty deposits are laid down along their sides. This has been ascribed to weight, smoking, diet and lack of exercise. The heart then has to work harder, to get the blood through to the rest of the body.
I want to ease off the pressure. So, I looked at these physical causes first.
Weight: check my body mass index. It’s within the acceptable range. I gave up smoking half a lifetime ago, so there’s nothing more I can do about that.
Next, diet. The consensus seems to be, stay away from ultra-processed foods, especially those with high carbohydrates, and reduce salt intake.
Well, I am averse to ultra-processed foods anyway. I can’t remember when I last ate one of those packaged food bars, including the ones that declare how good for you they are. My reasoning is that if I don’t know how, where or by whom (or what) they were made, what the ingredients are or where they came from, how does my stomach have a chance of recognising what’s coming its way? And in that case, how can it process it efficiently? No wonder it gets laid down to fat. The body probably doesn’t know what else to do with it.
The official view on fats and oils is getting questioned as people explore what our ancestors ate (for example, lots of animal fat which the professionals say is bad for you). There has been a range of diets proposed over the last few decades, from Hay to Atkins to Keto to Paleo, each of which has been officially debunked. But the urge persists. It makes sense to me that our diet has evolved more than our bodies have in the last 10,000 years, so maybe there is more to learn here. I’ll follow my instinct on that one until there is a new consensus.
Wholegrains, pulses, fruit and veg, protein-rich foods such as fish, eggs and unprocessed meat are fine and, incidentally, would have been recognisable to our ancestors. Alcohol and caffeine are okay in moderation.
I’ve reduced the coffee to one in the morning and slightly reduced the booze consumption. Cheese (high in salt) now has the status of a treat. I’ve cut out cakes for treats and upgraded the chocolate to 85% cocoa (good quality cocoa is also recommended). I’ve looked for foods that are high in potassium, (also good for the salt levels) so I’m aware of them when I go food shopping.
That wasn’t much of a change, though. I don’t think that diet has led to the high blood pressure — unless the professionals are right about saturated fats.
What about exercise? Can exercise balance out the internal and external pressures, so that there is less of an internal build-up? In moderation, it almost certainly helps. The advice is, exercise for around 30 minutes a day (not necessarily all at once — maybe in three ten-minute sections) at least five days a week, to the extent that you get a bit out of puff. A brisk walk, swimming maybe, or an exercise routine. Although I consider myself to be reasonably fit, this is a good reminder.
What else?
The medical profession has an array of drugs to deal with the symptoms. Among other things, they force the arteries to relax by interrrupting or overriding the signals that tell them to tense up. In my view, these are great additions to the toolkit. However, they don’t address the root cause. They don’t teach my body to step down from high alert by itself. Before resorting to drugs, I would like to try to understand what has led to my body being in this situation.
Why is my body in a continual, chronic state of suppressed panic? I can feel the intensity. There is restlessness, difficulty in relaxing. There is a permanent mental demand: what should I be doing? How can I do better?
Has this psychological pressure kept my body in a continual stressed state? And if so, where did it come from? How can I persuade the body to step down the alert level if I don’t know how it got there in the first place? Some investigation is needed.
To be continued …
