Blood pressure and melatonin

[misterponytail]

You seem to be quite happy and relaxed, otherwise Id recommend trying a form of relaxation training (doesnt need to be esoteric, something simple as progressive muscle relaxation, short breathing exercises on stressful days etc). No risk, little costs, worth a try imo.

Moving away from California helped. LOL! I do claim to be a zen buddhist, and that involves sitting on a cushion staring at a wall for 25 minutes at a time. (Then walking for five minutes until you can feel your legs again, then sitting for another 25 minutes, repeat.)

I used to do a lot of Chinese martial arts (Xingyi, Bagua, Taiji) and I learned a lot of breathing exercises doing that. (Doesn't seem esoteric when you're in that world.) It's actually been hard to train myself to breath in at the top of a squat and hold it. My martial arts training would have me breath out on the decent, then breath in on the rise...

[Jonathon Sullivan]

Every night?

I'd say 60-70% of the time. If I have to, I'll sometimes take diphenhydramine too. Down and out, usually. The latter has the added benefit of keeping the old man from waking up to pee. I wake up in the morning rested....with a beer keg bladder.

[Masher]

Had to share and this seemed to be the right forum:

In spite of my healthy lifestyle - training, eating well, no smoking or drinking - I’ve had borderline high blood pressure (140/90) for the last four or five years.
My doctor wants to put me on medication but I’ve been reluctant.
There’s been no change in bp over the years and I’ve kind of settled and been thinking perhaps it’s not so high after all.

Magnesium is a supplement that is often given for blood pressure. Have you tried supplementing with it? A dose of 400-500mg/day is supposed to lower blood pressure in 6-8 weeks. It is also great for the health of epithelial tissue in general (read: ED).

Also your usual "fish oil" capsules that are heavy on EPA and DHA are cardio-protective due to anti-inflammatory properties that might aid blood pressure.

I ran out of Magnesium recently and need to buy more...

[Northswede]

Thanks for the tip. But yeah, I’ve been taking magnesium for a long time, now ZMA every night.
My latest BP-gimmick is beetroot juice but I don’t know... I’m starting to think it’s mostly genetic.
I mean, I’m doing EVERYTHING right but still.
I suspect the melatonin effect will peter out too.
I will continue to try anything though so tips and tricks are appreciated.

[SteveL]

Had to share and this seemed to be the right forum:

In spite of my healthy lifestyle - training, eating well, no smoking or drinking - I’ve had borderline high blood pressure (140/90) for the last four or five years.
My doctor wants to put me on medication but I’ve been reluctant.
There’s been no change in bp over the years and I’ve kind of settled and been thinking perhaps it’s not so high after all.

Then my wife got some melatonin for sleep and even though my sleep is fine, I tried one 5 mg pill for some reason.
I slept even better, woke up and felt great, rested and clear.
So I continued.

Now, I monitor my bp about once a month and the first time I did, about two weeks after I started to take melatonin, I had 129//80. Two weeks later I had 107/66!!
Numbers I haven’t seen since my twenties.

Besides the melatonin I haven’t made any changes.
I would take it for the sleep quality alone but I must say it’s a great ”side effect”.

I don’t know if the effect persists, but since it’s a pretty harmless supplement (hopefully) I had to tip the elderly lifting population of SS.

And yeah, supersleep and the bp of a teenager has had a great impact on my lifting.

53 yo
6’2
215
Intermediate/advanced

I myself have blood sugar issues but never a pressure issue. However I've read of many people who have overcome BP issues with a wheat free or even ketogenic diet.
DIY Blood Pressure: Part 1 | Dr. William Davis

The site above has lots of information in regards to this.

[Northswede]

Well, fellow hypertensionists of the elderly lifting community, interesting turn of events...

Had a doctors appointment yesterday. He turned out to be a lifter and was very pleased with my form of training.
He also said 140/90 is NOT high blood pressure, that I should quit worrying and report the doc who wanted to give me meds.
Now I’m very happy to stop worrying about the bp, but he’s the first to say this and Google is full of prehypertension warnings.
A second opinion?
From coach Sully? Or anyone else?

(On a sidenote, my T was high, but free T was low, so he offered to prescribe testogel if I could beat the test. He said I should eat a bag of licorice three days before the testing and also eat plenty just before. TRT is not en vogue in Sweden so he needed to have his hands free.
Interesting guy.)

[Jonathon Sullivan]

"Report the doc?" That's pretty rad. If repeated measurements show similar bps, then you've got prehypertension. Meds may not be necessary, but a decision to treat is hardly...criminal.

Check it out:

[Meshuggah]

They have changed the guidelines so that they can prescribe more blood pressure meds. It's all about the $$$$

[Northswede]

He didn’t exactly suggest I should call the cops, I think it was more of a way to emphasize how wrong he thought the other doc were.
Actually he sounded a lot like the guy in the vid.
Anyway, this mornings reading was 129/81. Soothing news from new doc or melatonin?
I’ll stick to both for a while.

[Bestafter60]

NEW BP GUIDELINES VIDEO
Am I the only one who started covering the screen so this guy's message wasn't lost to the hand flinging and screen flashing, only to find his voice was so irritating all by itself I was begging for print?
(real geezer comment there!)