I had some blood pressure measurements taken and all of them were in the 130-140/75-85 range, which is a bit high for someone age 22. I was quite surprised by this as I am relatively healthy, not overweight with 185 pounds @ 6’1, training 4 times per week and walking 7000-10000 steps per day. My waist however went up to 34.5-35 inches over the last months.
How should I handle this moving forward? Do I need to lose weight despite being in the normal range because my waist is a bit large ?
Lots of people develop high blood pressure without a specific identifiable underlying cause. If you have a family history of high blood pressure, for example, there may be some genetic predispositions at play here.
We often also look at lifestyle factors including alcohol use, sleep (e.g. obstructive sleep apnea), bodyweight / waist circumference, and others. But a blood pressure in that range should be reduced, yes.
I would talk with your doctor about the possibility of a sleep evaluation if indicated (it may or may not be) or any other testing they may feel is necessary.
If there are no specific identifiable reversible causes found, it may be a situation where medication is ultimately necessary in order to reduce your lifetime cardiovascular risk.
Not sure if you’re allowed to build off of another question- I was actually wondering the opposite. My blood pressure has gone down to a healthy level, when it was quite high in my 20’s (I am now 34). I am wondering why this happened. though I have tried very has to lose weight, I am still overweight (250 at 5’9)
I don’t have nearly enough information / background history to answer this, sorry. Again, as much as we like to simplify things down to single factors, high blood pressure is complex and multifactorial.
I was just at the doctor’s office and got a blood pressure reading of 135/76. However, she told me that this is perfectly fine and nothing to worry about. I am a bit surprised about this as I thought this would be too high. How should I go from here ?