Dear LPG readers, 

 Did you know that about half of us British pensioners have blood pressure issues, and a fair amount of younger people are affected too? I found out about mine quite by accident. I visited one of those health workshops about 15 years ago, and my blood pressure was taken. I was surprised when the person who took it advised me to see the doctor immediately.    

We all know that not checking what is going on with your blood pressure can result in all sorts of severe illnesses, and yet, while headaches, blurred vision and shortness of breath are often caused as a result, there are usually no symptoms at all for so many of the sufferers.  

It is something that really needs to be checked but now that so many of us see our doctors by proxy (or perhaps hear them on the other end of the telephone more often than we get to see them) blood pressure is something that gets checked less and less frequently unless you check it yourself. 

I recently read an article about improving your do-it-yourself blood pressure readings on the LPG pages, which prompted me to examine mine more carefully.(►►►)

Something that often results from the condition is a bit of dizziness caused by altitude change.  The word ‘altitude’ always used to get me thinking about planes taking off and landing, or perhaps getting out of our solar system to the moon or Mars might be the vision that the word provokes. Still, most oldies do the mini version of evoking altitude change every time we get out of bed in the morning or out of a chair after sitting a while.  If that disorientates you, your blood pressure could be the cause. 

I did some online investigating and discovered something I now try to find motivating occasionally. Apart from the facts, I found an interesting set of exercises that might help prepare for our miniature altitude changes with less wobbliness, no matter how minor. However, they are no substitute for seeing a doctor if your blood pressure has not been checked in a while… 

PY, New Cross

PY shares the exercises mentioned above…

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