Quote:
Originally Posted by Varley
I weigh myself and take my blood pressure every Saturday morning:
6/5 (0930z) - 18 St 6 Lbs 7/8 (Otherwise 18-7). BP 141/73 Pulse 90 (about 5 Ft 10)
13/5 (1145z) - 18 St 5 lbs 3/4 (otherwise 18-6) BP 121/73 Pulse 92 (height unchanged)
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It's an odd business, this blood pressure. I bought one of those testing devices in order to dissuade my GP from calling me to her surgery every time I needed a new prescription for safety valve pills, and I used it three times a day religiously for months. In the instructions for the device it was stated that tests should not be undertaken after the consumption of alcohol or tobacco.
Right so:
First test having got out of bed -- blood pressure up near the red line according to the WHO scale but not quite enough to lift the safety valves. Pulse rate 80 bpm. Well not surprising I suppose, since the exertion of getting out of bed together with the shock of finding myself still alive must have some effect.
Second test, lunchtime -- blood pressure a few psi above normal and pulse rate down to 70. Probably caused by sheer boredom since in my little country it is permanently raining and blowing a hooligan outdoors even in Summer, and what can one do indoors when the housework is done other than to watch the grass grow on the lawn?
Third test, late evening -- blood pressure normal according to WHO and pulse rate down to 65 after several glasses of good Irish whiskey and at least fifteen fags during the day, followed with a tumbler or three of cheap red wine after a good red meat dinner.
Conclusion: Drinking and smoking is not unhealthy; instead it is highly therapeutic unless taken in moderation when the beneficial effects are more limited. Eating red meat with lashings of spuds and thick gravy provides essential nutrients that the body needs, and that reduces blood pressure because the body is so busy digesting all of that that it doesn't have time to frig around with blood pressure.
OK. I am not a medical professional and am only commenting upon what I have observed. It works for me since, at six-foot-one and fourteen stone (all of it pure muscle) I can still drag my bins out to the road without