Is your bp supposed to go up when you are active?? When I am resting my bp is low....when I am active what so ever...it goes pretty high.

Yes it's natural. It should decrease, as well as your pulse rate with a regular routine of excercise.

Yes. Even normal peoples' systolic goes up to 200 or so while they are running. Lesser degrees of activity provoke a lesser but still noticable spike.

Well... I mean I dont even have to be exercising or anything. Just me walking from the kitchen to the bedroom to check my blood pressure---it just seems so high. I will get readings at high as 130/100. Then I will lay down on the bed and wait a few min. and it will go down to like 122/85 or 87...the longer I lay there the lower it gets. For instance...I checked it lastnight after just washing dishes. Nothing strenuous. And it was 120 something over high 80's. Then I layed down to watch a movie and about a half hour later I checked it and it was as low as 96/68.

Is this normal???

I went to the doctor Thursday...because I got concerned because I had had some high readings....and I am on the pill. When I got to the doctors office my bp was fine. When I got home that night. It was 120-something over high 80's again.......and the doctor said to call him if I get anything higher than 135/85. And he wanted me to check it only once a week.

Well...I checked it several times over the weekend...and still was getting some high readings....without really doing anything. Saturday night I got a reading of 129/98. Then I rested...it did come down some.

Then I woke up Monday morning without getting up and it was 110/70. Got up took a shower...checked it and it was something like 126/86.

I called my doctor today and told the nurse I was still getting higher readings and she said to monitor it...sit for 5-10 min before taking it because that is an accurate reading. IS THIS TRUE????

She said I need to keep my bottom number as low as possible...like low 80's or 70's.

But should my bp be rising that much when I am barely even doing anything????

I am concerned.

It sounds to me like you are much like me - out of shape!

What is your age? What is your activity level? Are you a smoker or do you consume excess amounts of alcohol?

Everyone has normal fluctuations of blood pressure when they are doing things. For those of us who are out of shape physically, the fluctuations from just walking from one room to another will tend to be much greater than for those who exercise regularly.

The recommendation is that RESTING blood pressure should be under 120/80. Pre-hypertension is from a RESTING 120/80 to 139/89. (Pre-hypertension just means "watch it," it doesn't mean you have high blood pressure.) Hypertension is a RESTING blood pressure of 140/90 and greater. Some people say you should rest quietly for five minutes before taking a reading. Others say that should be ten or fifteen minutes. But it is the resting numbers which are used for comparison against these guidelines.

Oh, another thing about taking your pressure. Make sure you are seated properly. Your feet should be flat on the floor (no crossed legs) and your arm should be resting at heart level. Taking a reading in other positions will give different results which can't be easily compared to the guidelines.

It sounds to me like you are much like me - out of shape!

What is your age? What is your activity level? Are you a smoker or do you consume excess amounts of alcohol?

Everyone has normal fluctuations of blood pressure when they are doing things. For those of us who are out of shape physically, the fluctuations from just walking from one room to another will tend to be much greater than for those who exercise regularly.

The recommendation is that RESTING blood pressure should be under 120/80. Pre-hypertension is from a RESTING 120/80 to 139/89. (Pre-hypertension just means "watch it," it doesn't mean you have high blood pressure.) Hypertension is a RESTING blood pressure of 140/90 and greater. Some people say you should rest quietly for five minutes before taking a reading. Others say that should be ten or fifteen minutes. But it is the resting numbers which are used for comparison against these guidelines.

I am 27yrs old--I do try to walk on most days. Only during the warm months. I do not smoke---but to be completely honest...I have been drinking probably more than I should here lately. Like once during the weekend---or every other weekend.

Does alcohol raise the bp??

Can you give me some other things that might raise the bp. I try to eat pretty good. I am 5'6...and weigh 120 lbs right now. So I am not over weight. I do eat fast food sometimes.

Should I stop the drinking ??? What else could I do to try and bring it down???

Unless you drink until you get blotto, drinking a couple of drinks on the weekend shouldn't raise your blood pressure.

Do you eat really salty foods? Some people are sensitive to salt and it will really raise their bp.

You mentioned you are on the pill. Birth control pills can raise your blood pressure. You might want to change to progesterone only pills or some other form of birth control that doesn't use estrogen.

Some people have a rise in blood pressure even with one drink. But as a whole, the recommendation is no more than one drink a day for a woman or a small man, no more than two for larger men. One can't save up those drinks and binge on a weekend, though. Even if one's BP does rise slightly with one drink, there appear to be other cardiovascular benefits of light drinking, such as slightly fewer strokes and a better Lp(a), lower artery stiffness with age.

The first things I can think of to help lower BP through diet is to lower salt intake and to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, especially the lower carbohydrate kinds, for their potassium content. Here is an article you will likely find interesting:

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/hbp/prevent/factors/supls.htm

You might also want to check out what you should be eating to control cholesterol, too. Even if yours is fine now, if you beome aware of how diet can affect it and your heart health long term, you might be able to avoid the fix some of us old timers find ourselves in. The cholesterol board should be of some help on that.

Looking back over your previous comments, I'd be inclined to think that your best bet for getting your pressure down is to start getting more exercise. Just in the summer won't cut it. For someone your age to get a blood pressure reading of 130/100 just walking from room to room when you get very low resting readings sounds like you spend too much time at the computer or in front of the TV or doing other sedentary things. Unless those readings only take place when you are being affected by an allergy or something. If you don't want to walk in bad weather, put a boogie tape or CD in the player and dance around the house.