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I have always noticed that my blood pressure is higher when I'm at the doctors office. If it's elevated I will also check it when I get home, and almost always - it reads lower. Sometimes much lower. I think this is called 'white coat syndrome', and happens if you have anxiety about the doctors office visit or getting your blood pressure checked. My blood pressure has always been slightly high ever since I was 18 years old. And I have always been lean my entire life. I don't do cycles.. just legitimate TRT. I am 37, 215lbs and almost always stay around 10-12% bodyfat. Shouldn't really have high blood pressure. I do however, get nervous about the doctor office for unknown reasons.. think I'm slightly hypochondriac and tend to overthink things.
White coat syndrome is well known... however, I discovered something today that I was doing during my blood pressure check that was drastically raising my blood pressure readings falsely. And I'm hoping this will help someone else.
Today I had my 6 month checkup at my Endocrinologist that prescribes my TRT. Today my blood pressure read higher than it ever has... The first reading was 187/120!? The nurse looked at me like I should be dead, and asked if I was feeling okay. She then took the reading on my other arm, and the second reading said 157/92. Much better but still higher than it's ever been. It is never this high. I did a couple more readings when I got home, and they stayed around the 150/90 range.
This may seem really silly to some people (that aren't anxiety prone)... but for others that are either A) under a lot of stress, B) really worried about health and a hypochondriac, or C) an individual that is prone to anxiety or panic attacks in general - this may be happening to you as well without you really knowing you are doing it. If you fall into one of these categories, try the below:
Make sure you are constantly breathing, either in or out at all times. Take deep breaths in and deep breaths out - both slow and fast breathing seem to work, but slow and controlled is supposed to be better. Just make sure you are ALWAYS breathing. When most people get anxiety/stress they tend not to breath properly, or very shallow. I realized today that I subconsciously haven't really been breathing at all during my readings... combination of nerves and I also end up slowing my breathing to try and control my heart rate so it's slower and I don't seem nervous. I really wasn't aware it was happening, and also didn't think it would have much of an effect anyways... I am prone to anxiety and it's pretty common for me for my breathing to get very shallow at times when I'm under stress.
After getting these high readings, I started to think about what could possibly be causing this. I eventually questioned if I was breathing properly... So I did an experiment where I made sure to control my breathing, and make sure I always am either breathing in, or breathing out at all times, never stopping. My results - my blood pressure dropped down to the normal range 120/80. Tested several times, and every time I did this breathing exercise it now reads within 5 points of 120/80.
So, if you have high blood pressure - try this the next time you take a reading. Just simply need to make sure 100% of the time you are either a) breathing in, or b) breathing out. Deep full breaths. The fact that I went from a 187/120 reading to a 120/80 reading from simply making sure I was breathing is shocking to me. I had no idea, but I must have been basically holding my breath the whole time, or having extremely shallow breathing the whole time. I thought my blood pressure was slightly elevated my entire life, but it was my breathing.
Try this out and report back. Hopefully this can help some other individuals here. Even if you think you are breathing properly, make an effort on your next reading and see what happens. I had no idea.
White coat syndrome is well known... however, I discovered something today that I was doing during my blood pressure check that was drastically raising my blood pressure readings falsely. And I'm hoping this will help someone else.
Today I had my 6 month checkup at my Endocrinologist that prescribes my TRT. Today my blood pressure read higher than it ever has... The first reading was 187/120!? The nurse looked at me like I should be dead, and asked if I was feeling okay. She then took the reading on my other arm, and the second reading said 157/92. Much better but still higher than it's ever been. It is never this high. I did a couple more readings when I got home, and they stayed around the 150/90 range.
This may seem really silly to some people (that aren't anxiety prone)... but for others that are either A) under a lot of stress, B) really worried about health and a hypochondriac, or C) an individual that is prone to anxiety or panic attacks in general - this may be happening to you as well without you really knowing you are doing it. If you fall into one of these categories, try the below:
Make sure you are constantly breathing, either in or out at all times. Take deep breaths in and deep breaths out - both slow and fast breathing seem to work, but slow and controlled is supposed to be better. Just make sure you are ALWAYS breathing. When most people get anxiety/stress they tend not to breath properly, or very shallow. I realized today that I subconsciously haven't really been breathing at all during my readings... combination of nerves and I also end up slowing my breathing to try and control my heart rate so it's slower and I don't seem nervous. I really wasn't aware it was happening, and also didn't think it would have much of an effect anyways... I am prone to anxiety and it's pretty common for me for my breathing to get very shallow at times when I'm under stress.
After getting these high readings, I started to think about what could possibly be causing this. I eventually questioned if I was breathing properly... So I did an experiment where I made sure to control my breathing, and make sure I always am either breathing in, or breathing out at all times, never stopping. My results - my blood pressure dropped down to the normal range 120/80. Tested several times, and every time I did this breathing exercise it now reads within 5 points of 120/80.
So, if you have high blood pressure - try this the next time you take a reading. Just simply need to make sure 100% of the time you are either a) breathing in, or b) breathing out. Deep full breaths. The fact that I went from a 187/120 reading to a 120/80 reading from simply making sure I was breathing is shocking to me. I had no idea, but I must have been basically holding my breath the whole time, or having extremely shallow breathing the whole time. I thought my blood pressure was slightly elevated my entire life, but it was my breathing.
Try this out and report back. Hopefully this can help some other individuals here. Even if you think you are breathing properly, make an effort on your next reading and see what happens. I had no idea.
