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Comment by teamspirit | Hacker News Reader

I had hypertension for about 15 years and after quitting drinking and smoking no longer do. I still suffer from white cost hypertension regularly and frequently have to tell nurses to just press the button again - second time drops back to normal range with a drop of about 20/10.

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I had it too. When I was under stress, sometimes I could hear my pulse in my ears like a whooshing sound.

I stopped drinking and my BP is now completely normal, and RHR is low 40's. Sleep is much better too.

Are you serious? Your RHR is in the low 40s? Mine is typically 58-65 and I was told I have bradycardia!

Yes, and it was in the 50-60 range when I was drinking. My smartwatch use over a couple years has been informative.

It's a combination of genetics and athletics.

Edit: my smartwatch readings include sleep. Sitting upright at a table right now it's around 65

We have a heart rate monitor at work that we use on 1-2 patients for day. It alarms at rate below 50BPM. At least once a week it's alarming at us.

My RHR is around 35. The rare occasions I get to go on vacation it dips into the high 20s while I'm sleeping. I haven't been on a real vacation in 2 years, though :/

Serious distance runner here: about five years ago while laid up in the hospital the alarm kept going off in the middle of the night on the HR monitor machine.

Nurse: “it goes off if your HR is too low.”

Me: “what’s it set to?”

Nurse: “39 BPM”

Me: “ yeah, you’re going to want to turn that down a few notches.”

Genetics play a role, too. Back in the day, one of the fastest road bike racers in WA state told me he’d never seen his resting HR below 60.

I stopped drinking and mine went up :p

Being sober is pretty stressful

It took me a good 10 days after quitting to start to feel "normal" and sleep without waking up drenched in sweat. Depending on intake and other factors it can take a while to fully heal. Months or longer.

Something I realized was that alcohol was actually causing my anxiety and depression, which was one of several things that led me to quitting. I paid compound interest on the short term relief.

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