Admittedly, I haven’t been working my heart rate. It tends to be on of those things you don’t notice to much (unless it’s at an extreme). I haven’t checked my max. heart rate in well over a year, maybe two. I stopped when I had found my max. HR to be depressing low due to the high blood pressure medication I was prescribed and taking.
Last year I had noticed a significant drop in my resting rate when I saw that one day it had dropped down to 50 bpm (beats per minute). Ever since I made the move on my health and decided that taking high blood pressure medication was no longer an option, it’s been getting better. Just take a look for yourself…
It was around March/April of 2019 that I decided I needed to do something about my blood pressure. It was when my doctor recommended that due to another unexplainable rise in my systolic pressure and unchanged (elevated) diastolic pressure that I should start taking a 2nd high blood pressure medication. I said I would wait a few months, see if I could fix it, and then if it was necessary and unavoidable, I would.
Well, it wasn’t.
I changed my activities, I changed my diet, I revamped my life and stress in many ways (of which I’ll have to cover later). Here’s what happened one year later…
You can already see the immediate drop that started in the first image. Here you can see that progress continue all the way until I hit my target weight (188lbs) in November/December. Keep going and you also see exactly what happened when I stopped doing regular cardio (Elliptical/Biking/Running).
March/April of this year I had enough. Driven by my weight going up once again, I took action. Fasting, clean diet, and exercising to the limit of stress that I could keep my body healthy.
How am I doing now? Well Im glad you asked. As of this morning, I am 191lbs, and my resting heart rate is fantastic.
I don’t take blood pressure medications, or have the need for any medications at all anymore. My blood pressure has become so consistently stable, I don’t even check it anymore; it’s always in the green.
It’s not hard to assume that lowering your resting heart rate is good for you. Let’s assume it is, and let’s further assume that our hearts are impacted and wear out more from the number beats they have to perform over our lifetime.
10bpm x 60 minutes x 24 hours x 365 days = …
5,256,000 beats
… of additional strain my heart did not have to endure.
Today is a true day for personal celebration, and personal achievement. My daughters and wife can have the expectation of a long living father and husband. I am happily enjoying the multitude of benefits that comes from being in great shape, having a healthy diet, and sleeping well. All because I made the decision to become non-negotiable about my health and no longer compromise that which truly matters.