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ask: wide variation in blood pressure

By Anonymous January 20, 2010 - 2:34am
 
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during the day my BP is around 115/70 but at night it can fall as low as 55/49 is this bad

 
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Anonymous

Sorry, I meant to say it falls to 88/49

January 20, 2010 - 2:36am
Diane Porter

Anon,

Thanks so much for the clarification; 55/49 would have been incredibly low!

First of all, your daytime blood pressure is great. The Mayo Clinic site says that many experts believe 115/75 is optimal. So whatever you're doing, keep it up!

It's quite common to have blood pressure fall when we are resting. The question is whether it's too low. You look to be right on the borderine: The Mayo says that experts define low blood pressure as readings lower than 90 systolic or 60 diastolic — you need to have only one number in the low range for your blood pressure to be considered lower than normal. Your 88 is right on the edge of that, and your 49 is 11 points lower.

Many times, athletes and very fit people have low blood pressure.

However, the question is whether this causes you any problems. Do you have any other symptoms that concern you?

Here is the page I referenced, it gives a lot of information about possible problems with low blood pressure:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/low-blood-pressure/DS00590/DSECTION=causes

January 20, 2010 - 11:01am
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