Jordan,
I’ve had a few blood pressure readings over the last year that suggest I’m regularly in the 150s/90s range. I have had a readings higher than that. I’m 30 years old. I want to get this issue under control, but god damn I hate the internet, and even doctors, because I get conflicting advice everywhere I turn. I’m hoping you can give me your opinions.
I have come across a few factors when discussing high blood pressure.
-
Quality of sleep, specifically - do you sleep enough, and do you suffer from sleep apnea. I definitely get my hours in, but I do occasionally wake with headaches (possibly from teeth grinding).
-
Sodium intake. Recommended amounts seem to be around ~2g/day?
-
Potassium. Recommended amounts seem to be around ~4.7g/day?
-
Magnesium. Recommended amounts seem to be around 400 mg/day?
-
Calcium. Recommended amounts seem to be around 1200/day?
-
Weight loss.
I’d say that I can improve in all of these areas, although I’m not sure how much I can control the sleep factor. I have a few questions.
Q1: What do you think of these recommendations in general? Are they worthwhile? Would you change anything?
Q2: Perhaps bundled in with Q1, but for the average 30 year old strength trainee, would you say its worth my time to address all six of these at once? For an average case, is it reasonable to expect that addressing all of these can help reduce blood pressure?
Q3: If the answer to Q2 is that it is reasonable to expect a drop in blood pressure, in what kind of timeframes should I expect to see results?
Q4: If my goal is to gain BW over time, are there any useful protocols that I can undergo to manage BP?
Q5: Like many other trainees, I’ve often neglected my cardio. I definitely get some cardio in under the bar though, but 30min - 1 hour LISS sessions are pretty rare. To what degree can cardio help manage BP? Should I consider trying to be exceptionally aggressive with cardio? By that, I mean, if I’m running a BBM template, should I consider adding in additional cardio than is currently recommended? My in-the-gym performance is fine cardiowise, I’d really only add this to manage BP.
If all of this is totally off base, I’d like to know your opinion on what I can try on my own.
I understand that this post may be unnecessarily long. I can trim if needed. Thank you for your time!