After almost two years, I finally made it into my doctor’s office for a physical last week. I’m generally a healthy person, and if I’m sick I recover without medical intervention. I was confident that my activity level was keeping me healthy – surely a fifty-five year old woman running after a toddler would be in top notch shape. Well I had a rude awakening when I found out that my normally low blood pressure (90/60) is now high (142/85). What? How can that be?

Turns out that maybe those extra pounds I’ve slowly put on over the last couple “menopausal” years, plus no regular exercise (keeping up with a toddler is not exercise – darn!) may have affected my blood pressure, or I’m like 90% of the cases of high blood pressure where the specific cause is unknown. But before I’m put on a medication for hypertension, this is what I’m going to be doing until my next checkup:

1. Getting regular exercise, which means that I will walk the dogs from now on.

2. Getting twenty pounds off ASAP; surely the thought of having high blood pressure will be the ultimate motivator.

3. Cut down on sodium, although for the most part I don’t’ add salt to anything I cook, but there sure is a lot of sodium in most foods you purchase.

Truthfully, keeping up with my toddler daughter tires me but doesn’t keep me healthy. In the evening when I’m truly exhausted, I do a lot of sitting (and eating) and avoiding that much needed exercise that keeps us healthy and out of the fridge for a few minutes. And I’m so thankful that the extreme heat and humidity that keeps me inside is gone for the most part.

My parents, both 86 years old, have told me that getting old is not for wimps. Although I feel younger because I’m still actively parenting, I am not getting any younger. So if you are in a state of denial like I’ve been, get that physical and find out just how healthy you are. You owe it to your children and to yourself.

Each week I’m going to report on the changes I’ve made and how it has affected my general health and blood pressure. If any of you would like to join me, I’d love to include you in my weekly blog. Unlike me, you can be anonymous.

Image Credit: Flickr

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