Adding 1g of potassium citrate and 3g of l-citrulline to my daily stack is dropping my blood pressure levels to very low levels. Nearly couldn’t stand up straight yesterday night.
J0hn
#137
Thank you for the recommendation I’ve just placed a bid on eBay for one
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A new blood pressure ring in development:
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That strikes me as an even harder way of measuring it. Picking it up from movements in blood vessels on the wrist seems at least possible, but from a ring on a finger?
PHILADELPHIA – Intensive blood pressure control reduced dementia risk among individuals with hypertension, a randomized trial from rural China showed.
A village doctor-led intervention with a simple stepped-care protocol targeting a blood pressure under 130/80 mm Hg reduced occurrence of any dementia by a relative 15% compared with usual care over 4 years (1.12% vs 1.31% incidence per year, RR 0.85, P=0.0035).
The average 22/9.3 mm Hg greater reduction in blood pressure with intensive control also reduced incidence of non-dementia cognitive impairment by a similar degree (4.19% vs 5.02% per year, RR 0.84, P<0.0001), Jiang He, MD, PhD, of Tulane University in New Orleans, reported at the American Heart Association (AHA) meetingopens in a new tab or window.
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RPS
#141
Just taken my third V02MAX test and now have some interesting results.
Between the 1st and 2nd test my very good 44.0 ml/Kg/Min moved up to 44.7
The third test after the same 10 month interval saw a big jump up to 47.7
I started to do a little bit more (very minimal) HIIT in the last 6 weeks so I believe this big impact is as a result of using a breath trainer. This is the one I have been using:-
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Powerbreathe-LSI-Plus2-Power-Breathe-Fitness/dp/B000NJMLPA/
Also, I would point out that I have been using it for only half the recommended amount i.e. I only do it once a day for 30 breaths instead of twice a day.
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Neo
#142
Very interesting @RPS
Seems to be a bit of research behind it, see below
How much did you look into it before selecting this specific one?
How is this sort of device better than just nasal breathing?
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RPS
#144
I can’t quite remember what sparked my interest just before Christmas last year (either an article or it was mentioned on some podcast I’d listened to) but my family wanted to know ideas for a Christmas present for me, and with nothing else particularly coming to mind I said get me one of those breath training devices.
I did look through what was available on Amazon to give some guidance as being a former wind instrument player I figured some basic device would be too easy and not achieve anything. In the end that particular model I highlighted had three versions available last year and I had the intermediate one. This sort only exercises the inhale and not the exhale as well. The claim was that only training the inhale is required.
Must admit I was a bit sceptical after a few weeks as didn’t notice any improvement in my exercise routines and I ended up doing it only once a day instead of the recommended twice. Thought I’d just keep going until next vo2max test and if no effect I was going to stop using it. Clearly a big effect though.
So that is it. I didn’t put much research into it and if it hadn’t been around Christmas time last year probably wouldn’t have given it another thought.
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RPS
#145
No idea why this is better than nasal breathing, but I tend to do nasal breathing all the time anyway so my improvement is only due to that device.
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I’m interested in understanding this benefit. Are you saying your workouts were the same except for using this device that made breathing harder than nasal breathing? …and harder to inhale or exhale or both?
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RPS
#147
My workouts have barely changed over the intervening period. My zone 2 for an hour 3 times a week is all nasal breathing (and was before) with gradual improvement in distance achieved (personal bests).
Device makes it harder to inhale only.
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Neo
#148
Is the devise compatible with other activity?
Could I do while driving?
If I’m in a sauna or bath tub?
Just hanging out and watching TV?
—-
Do you have to wash it regularly or given the breath in only strengthening it says hygienic by itself?
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cl-user
#149
I have a Breather Fit
Basically it’s strength training for the respiratory muscles. I used it a few years ago when I started exercising seriously to kickstart my fitness. At that time is has been useful but I have not re-tried it now that I’m in shape. I stopped after reaching the highest setting.
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RPS
#150
I don’t think you should do it whilst driving.
It’s only 30 breaths a session so just two or three minutes (whilst reading rapamycin.news or listening to a podcast or otherwise meditating). Definitely could do it watching tv though you might have to put the volume up a bit. In the sauna, probably. In the bath definitely.
I just wash it under the cold water tap for a few seconds after each use and leave it to dry, no problem.
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RapAdmin
#151
Related, Blood pressure paper:
Conclusions and relevance: In this meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials, blood pressure lowering with antihypertensive agents compared with control was significantly associated with a lower risk of incident dementia or cognitive impairment
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adssx
#152
What about the optimal diastolic BP?
For instance, I have isolated “elevated” systolic BP (130–140 mmHg) but perfectly normal diastolic BP (24-hour BP monitor results below). I wonder whether there are anti-hypertensive that decrease SBP only. 
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That’s an interesting question. I’m curious to learn about that.
FWIW, I understand systolic is thought to be the more important stat but the difference between the two (“pulse pressure”) is also thought to be important (higher is worse). My pulse pressure is 40 +-3.
Your BP doesn’t look low so you could do the obvious things to improve BP. I have done and am currently working on: making sure nitric oxide is good (nitrites from nitrates in diet, cialis to make NO last longer), get sleeping or morning HRV higher (stress mgmt), a little HIIT but a lot of easy work (walking, zone 1), add potassium foods or salt replacements, keep blood sugar down, etc.
Good luck.
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adssx
#154
I think I’m already doing most of the “lifestyle” intervention… However, the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) and the International Society of Hypertension (ISH) have just published their 2023 guidelines and there’s one part about “Isolated systolic hypertension of the young” (ISHY) where they say the condition is common among “tall men, nonsmokers and people active in sports” and for them, ISHY “was associated with no risk factors”, and according to them, requires no treatment. 
Then they discuss “Isolated systolic hypertension in older persons” that requires treatment, but “Based on the data in aggregate, CCBs and Thiazide-like diuretics emerged as the drugs of choice for the management of ISH […] To prevent organ hypoperfusion, DBP should not be reduced below 70 mmHg by drug treatment, although compliance with this recommendation is often difficult as a large number of ISH patients already have a DBP <70 mmHg [874], and a considerable number exhibits values within the 70– 80 mmHg range. In population studies largely based on untreated patients, a very low DBP in ISH patients has been associated with a very high prevalence of CVD [874], although the causative factor may not only be poor vital organ perfusion but also a marked arterial stiffness, of which the very high pulse pressure value is a reflection. Treating ISH with low DBP remains a challenging task because of the difficulty to decrease SBP without reducing DBP at the same time, and to apply rigid safety diastolic boundaries, which may limit the achievement of SBP control, with its proven protective effect. […] However, aiming at SBP control remains the primary goal to improve outcome and, if well tolerated, this goal should be pursued also in patients with a low DBP. In the SHEP trial in patients with ISH, a treatment-induced reduction of SBP was accompanied by a clear reduction of major CV events, despite a DBP reduction that brought its average value to 68 mmHg [497].”
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Thanks. At this point in my life, after many false promises, I do not put faith in any advice that says “athletes don’t have to worry about it” …they also said endurance athletes had higher calcification of arteries but that was okay because it was only higher calcification not higher soft plaques. Now they say oops.
It’s good to be athletic but that benefit can hide other problems from researchers. That’s my take anyway.
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