Swimming and blood pressure.

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Chris Hobson

Chris Hobson

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
My last review in December '21 occured when my usual high levels of exercise had been curtailed quite a bit by my knees getting past their best and the gym being closed. Possibly as a consequence of this, my blood pressure is causing some concern according to the specialist nurse. I have been given a form to fill in to record BP readings over a week and then work out the average. The readings are taken four times a day so, by the end of the week there are a fair few to tot up. I did a week of testing the third week in January and have just completed one for February so I now have enough info to assess any progress that I might have made. You may have read elsewhere that I have been doing a fair amount of swimming as I'm doing a charity swim for the guide dogs, so the question is, has this helped? Well, the average for January was 152/74. According to the little booklet that comes with the tester, this means mild hypertension. Average for February is 139/79 described in the booklet as high normal. So far I would describe this as a win.

Other bonuses, I have lost about five kilos in weight and a couple of inches off my waist.

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Chris Hobson said:
My last review in December '21 occured when my usual high levels of exercise had been curtailed quite a bit by my knees getting past their best and the gym being closed. Possibly as a consequence of this, my blood pressure is causing some concern according to the specialist nurse. I have been given a form to fill in to record BP readings over a week and then work out the average. The readings are taken four times a day so, by the end of the week there are a fair few to tot up. I did a week of testing the third week in January and have just completed one for February so I now have enough info to assess any progress that I might have made. You may have read elsewhere that I have been doing a fair amount of swimming, so the question is, has this helped? Well, the average for January was 152/74. According to the little booklet that comes with the tester, this means mild hypertension. Average for February is 139/79 described in the booklet as high normal. So far I would describe this as a win.

Other bonuses, I have lost about five kilos in weight and a couple of inches off my waist.
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That looks like a win situation. Our GP always wants to see the raw data rather than averages as they can then see the variations throughout the day or day to day.
 
I've got both. I keep the forms with all the numbers on and the averages at the bottom. February's results seem more consistent and even than January's, as well as being lower.
 
I have now added up the results for a week's worth of testing in March. The average this time is 144/83 which is slightly disappointing as it is up on February although still below January. Once again this is in the mild hypertension range.
 
I was consistently in the hypertensive range until I started taking minimum dose ramipril.
Today (which is pretty typical) my morning reading was 96/68.
Before taking ramipril I was 153/99 for a 3 month average.

Increasing exercise clearly helps with the numbers but for me it’s not enough to get it into the green without the tablet. Family history of high blood pressure on both sides so I blame genetics!
 
ColinUK said:
I was consistently in the hypertensive range until I started taking minimum dose ramipril.
Today (which is pretty typical) my morning reading was 96/68.
Before taking ramipril I was 153/99 for a 3 month average.

Increasing exercise clearly helps with the numbers but for me it’s not enough to get it into the green without the tablet. Family history of high blood pressure on both sides so I blame genetics!
Click to expand...

Interesting Colin, both parents had high bp & was prescribed them myself several years ago. BP had gone up bit end of last year but had put on weight so decided to lose some to lower bp.

Since Jan lost 7kg with combination of diet & exercise, walking min 15k steps daily, bp has dropped but not sure can ever get rid of tabs altogether, not to bothered as have no side effects from them.
 
I would prefer to avoid taking medication if possible, partly because of potential side effects and also because there can be difficulties in getting off them if they don't work out. Interestingly, the chart that I have been given to fill in is divided into two sections for morning and afternoon readings. The afternoon readings are in the high normal range, the readings that are pulling the morning average up are the ones taken when I first get up. I have also re-read the little instruction booklet that came with the tester. It suggests that I should sit quietly for ten to twenty minutes before each test, which I'm not doing. Also it suggests not testing within an hour of drinking tea or coffee which is also a little impractical for me to do. To me, doing that stuff would also seem like cheating slightly, I want the readings to be realistic and representative of my every day life really. Anyway, I have another check up coming up so I will see what the specialist nurse has to say about it.
 
Why is it impractical to take a reading with an hour of not drinking caffeine beforehand?
 
"Why is it impractical to take a reading with an hour of not drinking caffeine beforehand?"

I was fitting my tests in between various activities that I am doing during the day and tea and coffee breaks are a part of that. Getting the timing right would be difficult. I could have abstained from coffee and tea for the duration of the testing and just drunk water but then the readings would then not be representative of my normal everyday life.

One bit of encouragement, I found an old BP diary from 2019 in the box that I keep my tester in. The results that I was getting then are at a similar level to my February and March numbers.
 
I'm going off to be poked and prodded again on Tuesday so I did my April BP diary a little early so that I could take one more set of results in. A summary so far is as follows.

Oct-Nov 2019 average 142/83
January 2022 average 152/74
February 2022 average 139/79
March 2022 average 144/79
April 2022 average 143/75

Room for improvement I would think. As the weather is improving I will soon be adding cycling to my exercise routine so that should help. I have also had a slight muscle strain that has prevented me from swimming quite as vigorously as I have been since the new year. That problem has pretty much cleared up now so I shall be back to doing sprints and trying to swim 5k in two hours.
 
Part of having my check up involved my blood pressure test result compared with a reading from my home test meter. Bad news is that my meter is knackered so I need to spring for a new one and that my home BP diaries are worthless. The good news is that it is reading too high so my diary results are probably better than they appear.
 
Update.
My most recent week long BP diary, using a new tester, has produced an average score of 141/81. Best reading during the week was 127/78. This I'm reasonably happy with.
 
@Chris Hobson - not being funny Chris cos you're younger than me BUT - you ain't a child either. You have been breathing in polluted air for 63 years. You have been eating food some of it grown with the use of chemicals for 60+ years. Some of us do all sorts of things to keep ourselves generally fit. Some don't. You fall into the former category.

So what? - the body ages even if our brains don't.

My MIL's comment says it all - Old age don't come on its own.
 
Haha yes, all we can really do is try to go downhill a bit more slowly. To be honest I don't think that I would fret too much about it myself but the specialist nurse has expressed concern about it. The info that I've been given is that diabetics should aim for an average below 140/80, hopefully I'm getting close enough for her to shut up about it.
 
One thing that puzzles me about all this is that the systolic reading is the one that is given the most attention, the diastolic reading, which in my case is always nice and low, is considered to be less important. Before I retired I was an engineer and spent a lot of time dealing with fluid power systems, both hydraulic and pneumatic. Low pressure is more the problem when it comes to clapped out hydraulic systems but there are similarities with the way that your blood circulation works. My engineering knowledge suggests that a high systolic score means that the hydraulic pump is in good order. The diastolic pressure being too high suggests that the pressure relief valve is sticking which has the potential to do a lot of damage. With organic systems it's the other way around.
 
Quick update.
I have a review coming up and I've filled out a new seven day BP diary so that I can take in one that is up to date. Average for the week is 138/79. The systolic reading is categorised as normal although it is at the high end of the normal range. The diastolic reading is categorised as ideal. This is also below the previously mentioned target of 140/80.
 
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