Announcing Next PLR project 'Bloodpressure Testers'

Sure, here is the dataset in Excel
Curated (cells).xlsx (17.3 KB)

Interesting that you are seeing these very rhythmic patterns. (Pinging @azure.)

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@Valeria_Pannunzio this is great!

What kind of work have you been finding on fast (ultradian, circadian, activity/meal dependent) flux in blood pressure? A quick search found some pretty old/cool work in this space that could help generate hypotheses…

(search ultradian blood pressure in pubmed to see more, but here are a few examples):

Autonomic control of ultradian and circadian rhythms of blood pressure, heart rate, and baroreflex sensitivity in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring: what a pediatrician should know. - mentions ultradian and circadian blood pressure flux in children

Biological Rhythms in the Skin — goes over several metrics at multiple timescales, including blood pressure

I’m excited for this project, please let me know how I could help – happy to be a participant :slight_smile:
Azure

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Do you follow a consistent process for each measurement (like resting for 10 minutes), or do you just take the measurement regardless of what you happen to be doing?

Using a normal blood pressure cuff, I could easily get changes of 10 mmHg by changing my posture or introducing other factors (incl changes in temperature or hydration)… In your case, do you see such jumps even when sitting still and taking consecutive measurements?

I’ve also found it extremely easy to raise and lower my blood pressure with changes of posture or breathing, which is unsurprising. My method of tracking long term change was to deliberately focus on getting the lowest measurement I could within a 10 minute period consisting of 5 minutes sitting completely still and doing meditative breathing, then five minutes in which I took a number of measurements, seeking the lowest possible. I figured that by seeking the lower bound in a careful and motivated way I could control some of the lability of the measurement. It was hard to set a new record!

I follow these guidelines (https://www.nature.com/articles/jhh201054.pdf - box 4), so at least 5-min rest, empty bladder, 30 min without smoking, meal, caffeine intake or physical exercise. I then take repeated measurements trying my best not to change posture or any other factor, and yet I always see numbers jumping a little bit from one measurement to the other (usually go a few points down, but not always).

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I want to try this too!

Thank you!! About circadian patterns, I mainly found these two papers ([1] (https://hellenicjcardiol.org/archive/full_text/2012/6/2012_6_432.pdf); [2] (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1081/CBI-120002913?needAccess=true); the second one, in particular, provides a relatively simple model of circadian bp variability in normotensive individuals), and [this book] (https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-1-59259-978-3.pdf), which includes a paper (135-158) providing a very nice overview of circadian and environmental determinants of bp regulation.

In the same book at page 10-13 there is also a handy overview of the effects of a number of environmental factors (incl. meals, alcohol, caffeine, smoking, talking, stress, exercise) on BP readings.

Hi all! We will have an introductory webinar on the project on Monday the 20th at 19.00 (CEST). Save a spot on https://www.crowdcast.io/e/vbbl72fo if you would like to join (or to re-watch the webinar in your own time!)

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Same, I find the Fitbit + blood pressure combination mostly interesting as a way to ‘contextualize’ blood pressure measurements within the day. E.g. in this visual I plotted heart rate (lines) and bp (circles) data on a 24-hour clock, and I like that I can look at it and get a rough overview of my activities before and after the bp measures.

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