What causes low blood pressure and low heart beat?

Question

Everytime I give blood the nurse testing my blood pressure calls for the RN to recheck me. Then she asks me questions like if I'm a marathon runner or if I'm very athletic. I'm also a free bleeder and bleed alot from even small wounds.

From what I pick up from the nurses it's a good thing but I'm just curious about it.

My blood pressure is like 100/60 and my heart beats around 45bpm at rest, I would think this would help live a long life because my heart doesn't work very hard.

I've taking probably 10 polygraph tests also and they have a hard time just registering a heart beat sometimes because I relax so much while taking them, they'll stop in the middle of it and ask if I'm still alive.

Thanks for your answers :)

Answer 1

The second figure (60 in your case) indicates the pressure left in your veins after the heart beats. If this is low, then less pressure is being exerted overall on your circulatory system, so that's a good thing. The first number (100) shows what pressure the heart is exerting when it beats - if you have coronary or other circulatory problems, the veins and arteries might be partially blocked, in which case, the heart has to work much harder to get the blood to flow through your body, and the pressure exerted can be high enough to rupture or damage blood vessels. This is the danger of high blood pressure.

I'm not sure why they are particularly surprised at your blood pressure. I'm a healthy man in my 50's and my blood pressure has been 110/70, or occasionally 120/80 for the last 30 years.

Marathon runners/athletes train hard and both increase the power of their heart, and reduce the resistance to blood flow in the body, so their blood pressure might be even lower than yours.

In general, if you are in good health, and take regular exercise, your at-rest pulse should be around 60-70 bpm. Your at rest pulse is indeed more like that of a very healthy athlete - you are lucky!

They should be happy that your heart is in good condition and your blood pressure is well within the normal range.

Answer 2

3 years ago, I was diagnosed - hypertension with a reading of 160/100. I used to feel dizzy a lot, my legs had awful cramps, and levels were very low in my potassium, causing my fingers and toes to always cramp together. One day I started to feel really faint while I was driving with my daughter in the back seat and I passed out, hitting 3 cars and ending up in a ditch. That moment,I knew I had to do something because my meds weren't working. I heard about this diet from a friend and thought I'd give it a shot. The results have been remarkable. In just 21 days, I honestly can't remember feeling this good, my blood pressure went from 175/110 to 125/70.

Answer 3

Sounds like your in good health Sean :)