I do wonder about recent changes that suggest anything beyond 120 / 80 is above 'normal'. You would think that something like blood pressure would be highly regulated in the body but it varies throughout the day, month and year.
They also say that salt is seriously bad for high blood pressure but I find little effect for myself personally. I do wonder how much sensitivity varies from person to person.
I'm at the extreme end of sensitivity. If I want my blood pressure medications to work, I need to eat something like half the recommended daily allowance of salt. Let's just say, eating out is a challenge.
I either prepare my snacks, or just have fresh fruits and vegetables.
You’d be shocked at how much salt some people consume. A little bit with your vegetables or steak isn’t going to move the needle, but some processed foods have unbelievable amounts of sodium relative to how they taste.
Salt definitely impacts blood pressure. Salt supplements are used with good effect in certain conditions of low blood pressure/volume.
That healthy prepackaged salad option at the grocery store? Often has more salt than a burger!
We've discovered that humans respond really well to a particular mixture of sugar, fat and salt. Basically every prepared food has about the same mix of those three. That mix is lethal for me.
In the case of salads they do that by using the veggies as a salad dressing delivery mechanism. If I can't add the oil and vinegar myself, I can't eat the salad.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37355083
Sodium isn't the problem
Yeah, and that's what makes salt increase your bp. More salt in blood = more water retention = more volume = higher bp.
https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/u...
The highest you can be and be considered "normal" is 119/79.
Elevated is 120-129/<80
Stage 1 hypertension is 130-139/80-89
Stage 2 hypertension is 140+/90+
And why is it different? Are the studies that shaped the recommendations in the US no good?
In the US they continue to revise numbers down to prescribe more medication and every doctor just kind of gets in line with this. Rarely do US doctors even attempt to find the cause of elevated BP, they just recommend medication immediately. BP medication is typically a lifelong thing. It's so effective that once you start it becomes difficult to get off of it safely. You kind of "grow with" the medication and risk a heart attack if you stop.
In the US it's all about money. The goal was to revise numbers down low enough so that almost all of the population over 30 qualifies as needing medication. The earlier you can get someone on BP meds the longer the average lifetime revenue. The target is 35+ years. It's basically a monthly recurring subscription to live.
Counterpoint: a 6' (1.83 m) tall column of blood has a pressure of 142 mmHg at the bottom- higher than your normal blood pressure. When you change posture from prone to sitting to standing, your blood pressure is basically swinging 100%. Hell, the diastolic blood pressure at your feet is almost double what your arms are at.
Plus, the oxygen consumption of various body parts is hugely variable. More oxygen requires more blood and more blood requires more pressure. With that kind of variance all over your body it's not a shock that it's also generally pretty variable.
yep. I've taken my BP laying down and it's generally lower than when I'm sitting up, but then again, I usually do that after going to bed, blood pressure is generally going to be lower at night so maybe I'm just noticing that difference vs during the day.