Blood Pressure Experiments
September 30, 2008
Let me just first state that I am not a medical doctor. The experiments I have carried out on this site were carried out to satisfy my own curiosity, as I do have scientific training. I do not recommend you try any of these yourself – consult your doctor if you have blood pressure problems.
My idea for these experiments was to look at various factors that have been reported as affecting blood pressure. For those of us with hypertension (high blood pressure), this type of information if very important.
When I started these experiments, my own blood pressure was around 140/100. Through carefully watching my diet, and increasing the level of exercise, my blood pressure dropped to normal levels. In fact, its not unusual for my blood pressure to be now be around 100/60.
For all of these experiments, I used a home blood pressure monitor, with the upper arm cuff. I did test the accuracy of this when I first started using it by comparing the readings with those taken by my doctor.
More Blood Pressure Experiments:
Effects of exercise on my blood pressureAbout a year ago, I decided to get into shape, and lose some weight. One of the side effects of losing weight and eating healthily was that my blood pressure dropped from around the 140/90 area down to 115/70 and below. During the last year I have done a lot of weight training and aerobic [...]
Effects of decaffeinated coffee on my blood pressureIn these experiments, I used an upper arm cuff home blood pressure monitor to measure my blood pressure on an empty stomach, after drinking a large cup of decaffeine coffee.
I used a filter coffee machine to prepare a large cup of coffee, made with decaffeinated ground coffee. The process was exactly the same as my [...]
In these experiments, I used a home blood pressure monitor (upper arm cuff), to measure my blood pressure in the morning, on an empty stomach, after drinking a large cup of caffeine coffee.
To prepare for each set of readings, I sat down for 5 minutes before taking the first reading.
The coffee used in this experiment [...]
In these experiments, I used a home blood pressure monitor (upper arm cuff), to measure my blood pressure in the morning, on an empty stomach.
To prepare for each set of readings, I got into position, and waited quietly for 5 minutes before taking the first reading.
I then took a minimum of 3 readings for each [...]
In this blood pressure experiments, I used a home blood pressure monitor (upper arm cuff), to measure my blood pressure before, during and after smoking a large cigar. I took readings every 5 minutes or so, to see if smoking would cause changes to my blood pressure.
Incidentally, I am not a doctor. These experiments are [...]
In this first of many blood pressure experiments, I used a home blood pressure monitor (upper arm cuff), to measure my blood pressure during my waking day.
The readings were not taken at specific intervals, and I have made no attempt to show on this graph when I ate food, did exercise, drank coffee, or anything [...]
