Dear LPG readers,

If you are reading this, I am betting that you are likely to be an ‘older person’ and, if you are an older person, you are very likely to suffer from a degree of high blood pressure.  I have seen some writings about what the readings on the blood pressure metres mean and I, being one of these ‘older people’ that I am referring to, and a sufferer, find the potential consequences of the imbalance gets me thinking from time to time. 

I say a sufferer, but there are not many day-to-day symptoms for most of us really.  I am sure that many readers who also suffer with high blood pressure, take a daily pill, get on with their lives and forget that they are affected most of the time.  It is common knowledge that the whole issue is caused by stress, but for some that stress becomes heightened significantly the instant that the monitor is about to be used.  I am one of those people and I can feel what is about to happen the minute the doctor starts to put that inflatable cuff on my upper arm, resulting in the doctor usually telling me that the readings will show a degree of inaccuracy even though the reading is taken two or three times. 

It is something that bothers me a little so I decided to go to the internet for some ideas about dealing with the problem and would like to share my findings.  I learned that there is even a name for what we people feel when we are sitting in the waiting room.  It is called ‘White Coat Syndrome’ and there is quite a lot of information about it to be found.  It was somehow good to know that I am not the only sufferer, but knowing that it exists is only a part of the answer to the problem. 

A little more research helped me to learn that there are a few things that you can do to minimise the rise in stress levels that you feel when you get to the waiting room and, with LPG’s permission, I hope that I have left some links below.  

It is also interesting to learn that if you can practise them regularly when at home these exercises may make a positive difference to your blood pressure levels and readings in a more permanent way.   The final thing I learned is that perhaps getting your own monitoring machine, and taking readings when at home, may also help to show the difference if the doctor’s presence is really the variable that alters the readings. 

I hope that a few clicks on the links below might make a difference to a few readers…

JA, Brockley

JA offers some exercises that may be helpful before a blood-pressure reading and in general.

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…and some general information about White Coat Syndrome ...

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