High blood pressure damages brain long before old age • Hacker News Board

Re: High blood pressure damages brain long before old age

#41

Post by a_bonobo » Fri, Nov 09, 2012, 4:28 AM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #23

I would like a credible dismissive comment to be at the top of this thread now please, because otherwise this is very bad news.

Best medical journal (Lancet), proper sample-size (579), from first glance it looks OK!

From their discussion there are some caveats:

- mostly white people checked (so if you're Asian, this might not happen)

- MRI has a known bias towards participation of healthy people, as unhealthy people don't like to hear the "news" about their condition

- the study is "cross-sectional", i.e., the MRI is just from one point in time. Having several measurements from the same people over a period of time (in years) would be much, much better.

Here's the original paper in case anyone's got access: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S147444221...

P.S.: To lift your mood, the first comment in the news-article is hilarious: "now the government obama care will start to penalize people with high blood pressure? absurd, they just need more cash."

Re: High blood pressure damages brain long before old age

#42

Post by tvladeck » Fri, Nov 09, 2012, 4:56 AM UTC

hluska wrote: post #35

pitchups wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I took blood pressure medication for awhile and, with my doctor's help, eventually got off of it. Can you share how exactly you got off the blood pressure medication? I know it is possible with appropriate diet and lifestyle changes - but would love to hear how you did it. Specifically, how high was your blood pressure and what changes made the most difference. I have been on daily medication for over 5 years now, a…

Hey there... First off, sorry to hear that you've been on daily medication for five years. I'm not a doctor, but I'll tell you everything I know. As well, if you have any questions you don't want to share here, or if you just need some support, my email address is on my profile page. The worst reading I ever had was 240/120, but I lived in the 200+/100+ zone for a long time. Over my entire battle, my average would ha…

Wow, this is really inspiring. Thanks for sharing.

Re: High blood pressure damages brain long before old age

#43

Post by jacques_chester » Fri, Nov 09, 2012, 5:18 AM UTC

srlake wrote: post #38

jacques_chester wrote: post #29

Hey guys, before we post the same link to "The Best Gym for Startups: Crossfit" two dozen times, let's reflect that Crossfit has a number of issues -- completely absent quality control being chief, with poor exercise selection logic being a close second. Let me put it this way: injuries per kilowatt-hour. Kettlebell swings, prowler pushes, etc -- good! High rep Oly lifting, high rep box jumps, kipping pullups -- terr…

You clearly haven't tried crossfit for very long, or went to a shitty box.

Like I said: there is no quality control.

Re: High blood pressure damages brain long before old age

#44

Post by pitchups » Fri, Nov 09, 2012, 5:22 AM UTC

hluska wrote: post #35

pitchups wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I took blood pressure medication for awhile and, with my doctor's help, eventually got off of it. Can you share how exactly you got off the blood pressure medication? I know it is possible with appropriate diet and lifestyle changes - but would love to hear how you did it. Specifically, how high was your blood pressure and what changes made the most difference. I have been on daily medication for over 5 years now, a…

Hey there... First off, sorry to hear that you've been on daily medication for five years. I'm not a doctor, but I'll tell you everything I know. As well, if you have any questions you don't want to share here, or if you just need some support, my email address is on my profile page. The worst reading I ever had was 240/120, but I lived in the 200+/100+ zone for a long time. Over my entire battle, my average would ha…

Wow, that is indeed a remarkable and inspiring story. Thanks so much for sharing it. You are right - most physicians - including mine - find it far easier to medicate you for life than try and cure you naturally. I am certainly going to try the approach of diet, exercise and lifestyle change and see how it goes. Incidentally, a great book on this topic that I recently found is "Spectrum" by Dean Ornish.

Re: High blood pressure damages brain long before old age

#45

Post by Lost_BiomedE » Fri, Nov 09, 2012, 6:04 AM UTC

tocomment wrote: post #31

Lost_BiomedE wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aged garlic took mine down. I don't have hypertension so I got off of it; my BP returned to my normal. The studies are actually kind of hit and miss, but it worked for me as a normie. Another one to look at is pomegranate. A friend of mine was having side effects with his BP medicine, and I made the suggestion to try it, LEF brand pills or POM juice. He was able to get off, had same BP as when on meds, without side e…

Is there a certain product you buy for the garlic? What dosage?

It was Kyolic 100. I was taking one a day but the bottle says 2.

Re: High blood pressure damages brain long before old age

#46

Post by kayoone » Fri, Nov 09, 2012, 6:54 AM UTC

I am 29 and suffered from high blood pressure. I am not particulary overweight but not super lean either. For the past 3 years i have worked at a startup that i founded as a CEO and programmer. Ultimately we failed but it still was a superb experience but the long hours and high stress also had alot of negative impacts on my life.

I got high blood pressure without noticing it, i gained about 10kg in weight, lost a long term (8 years) relationship and always felt stressed and guilty of not doing enough. In the end the product didnt find success and i realized that even if i love my work and love to work hard, i dont want to sacrifice my health and life as a yound adult. Now i go to the gym 4-5 times a week and try to maintain some balance while still working hard and most importantly more efficient. Even in 8 hours of highly focused work you will get alot more done than in grinding it out for 12 hours each day, and with regular exercise you will feel much better and be healthier! I love working out, not only is my blood pressure in excellent condition again and i feel fitter than ever, but it also gives me something else than my coding work to excel at, which is very important to me.

This is just my experience and YMMV, but i learned it the hard way. Think of your health and happiness first!

Re: High blood pressure damages brain long before old age

#47

Post by tomjen3 » Fri, Nov 09, 2012, 7:21 AM UTC

rhokstar wrote: post #20

srlake wrote: post #17

+1 for exercise and healthy eating. One of the many reasons we pay for our employees gym memberships. If you really want to get in shape and turn your health around, find your local Crossfit (www.crossfit.com) gym and get hooked.

Definitely. 6 days a week, 2 hours a day.

Okay. If that is what it takes, count me out. That is an insane amount of time to spend doing something that we as a species have worked so hard to overcome the need for.

Re: High blood pressure damages brain long before old age

#48

Post by rdl » Fri, Nov 09, 2012, 8:06 AM UTC

revelation wrote: post #10

My body likes to shoot up my blood pressure far off the charts whenever someone tries to measure it. Of course, the pattern only grows stronger from these experiences.

Mine was really high (150/90 vs. the normal 110/70) a few times when it got measured, but never high at home. I figured out what it was -- I'm getting it done biweekly when I donate platelets, and it is measured while the nurse is asking screening questions about where I've been in the past 3 years. She then says "what is state is Kuwait in, is it a city?". This reliably spikes my BP.

Re: High blood pressure damages brain long before old age

#49

Post by srlake » Fri, Nov 09, 2012, 8:22 AM UTC

jacques_chester wrote: post #43

srlake wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You clearly haven't tried crossfit for very long, or went to a shitty box.

Like I said: there is no quality control.

There is no quality control at regular, commercial gyms either.

I used to work out at a popular commercial gym and would see trainers doing the most ridiculous things with their clients: swimmers press on a bosu ball for a average 45 year old non-athlete, all kinds of pointless machine circuits.

Coming from a competitive sports background and year of training, my injury rate has actually gone down after joining crossfit, mostly due to the balance it builds by the variety of movements.

Re: High blood pressure damages brain long before old age

#50

Post by srlake » Fri, Nov 09, 2012, 8:26 AM UTC

tomjen3 wrote: post #47

rhokstar wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely. 6 days a week, 2 hours a day.

Okay. If that is what it takes, count me out. That is an insane amount of time to spend doing something that we as a species have worked so hard to overcome the need for.

This comment is the problem with North America's health today.