Jan 31 2009
Take Heart
St. Valentines’s Day is a great time to think about your heart and health. If you don’t already have one, go out and pick up an inexpensive blood pressure monitor for your wrist or arm, so you can keep track of where you stand.
If you have a family history of high blood pressure or even if you don’t, know what your numbers are, and you can use that as a barometer of how you are doing in a general sense.
Without a monitor, you can easily assess your heart rate by finding your pulse on your wrist with your finger (not your thumb which has a strong pulse too) and using a watch with a second timer, count the beats for thirty seconds and multiply it by two. This should be in the 50-80 range. If it is 80 or higher, and you have not been running around a bit, this is on the high side. Over 100, as a resting pulse, should be medically evaluated, as there may be a rhythm problem or other heart issue.
When you get your blood pressure monitor, the healthy range is about 120 over 80. The peak pressure, the systolic is the high number and the lower, resting number is called the diastolic pressure.
We will talk about the variations and when to be concerned in future discussions. Have a great and healthy day!
