2021.08.10 Hypertension

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Couple weeks ago I had my blood pressure taken as a routine facet of going to the dentist: 154/103 mm Hg. For years I've had mildly worrisome elevated blood pressure, 120-130 systolic and 80-90 diastolic. But this is, well, woah.

Amy immediately obtained a blood pressure cuff, to monitor me. And I need to consider the factors I can control. Most notably diet and exercise.

On the diet side, the pandemic has led me to slide into low-energy state of ordering lots of food delivered. Which is generally the worst possible thing diet-wise for hypertension. So much salt and sugar. Amy has redoubled her efforts to make me eat healthy, and I hope to be a bit more sanguine about my capitulations to my cravings. We'll see.

Exercise is tricky. Injuring my achilles tendons from running too much back during the separation was bothersome enough when I was underweight from the "crushing depression diet", but not it is even harder to avoid hurting myself. Plus, it really is hard to find time to get bike rides in when all the worthwhile riding is over an hour away by kei van, and foolish to do alone.

Ensuring daily walks isn't really enough, but I have started doing short runs (3km) every other day. It feels weird to have such a short distance feel difficult when just a couple years ago running 10km felt like just long enough to work out the angst. And my achilles recovery with just one day between runs is marginal, but hopefully sustainable.

It seems to be working. When last we checked, I was down to 145/95, which is very much in the right direction. More needs to be done, though.