Bit of a shock last week. I dropped into the GP surgery and ended up “breaking” their blood pressure machine. The nurse had to go back to the old-fashioned method of a cuff with a manual pump, dial gauge and a stethoscope. The reading could be used as the jumping off point for a mission to Mars, so I’m now on medication to try to bring it down. I have none of the other symptoms of high blood pressure that he asked about however.
On the positive side the GP told me that much against my daughter’s insistence I am not considered old, and even better, that if I drop a few kilos to weigh 100kg, he would consider that a healthy weight for me personally. The latter is such positive news from my point of view. The NHS’s apparent insistence on using BMI to judge everyone when mine is around 35 is quite depressing and has been for some time, particularly when I was swimming hard three times a week (and hopefully I will be doing so again soon, once the pool reopens). Even at 100kg my BMI would be over 31.