Health Assessment April 2010

About a week ago I had a health check at work and realized that my blood pressure (136/82 mmHg) was too high (read Fish and Soluble Fiber). I have since committed myself to doing more to lower my blood pressure and eat more good fats.

Today I will update you on my progress. Below are my blood pressure and weight measurements so far.

Below is a chart of my systolic blood pressure over time. Normal systolic blood pressure is 120 mmHg. My blood pressure seems to fluctuate greatly but averages around 140 mmHg. It is difficult to know whether my recent attempts to lower blood pressure has been successful. I will need to collect more data over a longer period of time to know whether this recent decrease in blood pressure is a definite downward trend or whether it is just randomness.

The data below show some health performance indicators (HPIs). E.g. on 2 April 2010 I did 104 minutes of aerobic exercise. There are three different fiber supplements I take: (1) inulin from Metamucil Fibresure, (2) wheat-based fiber called "Benefiber", and (3) fiber in the form of psyllium husks, also from Metamucil. The "Cenovis" column refers to Cenovis Men's Multi Once Daily. FOV refers to "fruits or vegetables" and refers to the number of cups of fruits of vegetables I eat during that day.

Each day, I aim to exercise 30 minutes, have 12.5 grams of psyllium husk fiber, 6.25 grams of Benefiber, 6.25 grams of inulin, 1000 IU of vitamin D, one Cenovis multivitamin capsule, 5 cups of fruit or vegetable, and 1500 mg of omega 3 fish oil. The graph below shows the degree to which I comply with these goals. For example, if I manage to do 30 minutes per day of exercise, then compliance is 100 per cent. If I manage to do 15 minutes per day, that is 50 per cent compliance.

Keeping up with the daily requirement for wheat fiber and fruit and vegetables is difficult. However, I am getting too much fish oil and aerobic exercise, although aerobic exercise compliance is dropping significantly over time, a sign that I have started off enthusiastically but over time my enthusiasm for exercise has waned. I am perfectly compliant with my multivitamin and vitamin D consumption.

Even though I am not having enough fruit or vegetable, I am not too worried because I hope my vitamim supplements make up for it. The fact that I have some fruit and vegetables is better than nothing.

To conclude, it's only been about ten or so days since I started my battle to reduce my blood pressure, so it's still early days. I will have to wait later to see what happens. To keep myself accountable (to myself) I have made it a chore of mine to report on my blog all information about my HPIs, blood pressure, and weight. I believe that full disclosure is good. I am aware that many people like to keep their health private because for them it is a person issue, but whenever I meet people I always tell them about my health because I think the practice of disclosing all your health information keeps yourself accountable. Of course, maybe if I had, e.g. a sexually transmitted infection then I may not be so keen to disclose that. (By the way, I do not have an STI!)