Blood pressure saga

I had a low key week wrt running. Managed only two runs this week, a 11k on Tuesday and 7.5k on Sunday. I have been suffering from some very bad cold for the last 3days or so, Sunday was the worst day. But, the short run helped me clear my throat & chest (and breathing).

The highlight of the week, was a silly blood pressure test I took at a Electronic store. I know it sounds stupid, but they had this fancy gadget for taking readings, so my friends and I just took that for a lark (although I have always had a feeling that I am a good candidate for high BP) and the reading said 85 - 140. (this clearly according to the administrator was not in the normal range 80-120). And that almost screwed up my Sunday afternoon, here I try to do everything right - Exercise regularly & more, don't smoke, am actually my below ideal weight and I have to suffer this reading. I was waiting to get home to start to reading what this meant and found some interesting stuff -

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/medicine/blood-pressure.htm (this definitely is not the best but its got heavy duty SEO done on it!)

But the important one is from my favorite health portal - Discovery health

http://health.discovery.com/encyclopedias/illnesses.html?article=31
"High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is defined as a systolic blood pressure reading greater than 140 mm Hg or a diastolic blood pressure reading greater than 90 mm Hg."
"How is the condition diagnosed?
Adults should have their blood pressure measured at least every two years. The diagnosis of high blood pressure is made on the basis of two or more blood pressure readings. It is diagnosed if two or more readings show a systolic blood pressure greater than 140 or a diastolic blood pressure greater than 90. Other tests may be ordered to look for conditions causing the high blood pressure."


All of this means that I am a boarderline case, just need to relax more and stop getting excited when people tick me off, plus maybe try my hand at meditation (but running is like meditation for me, its so calming). Plus I need to take more readings in the coming months to get some clarity as suggested by Discovery Health.

And yes I also need to go for a complete health checkup. I don't even know my blood group. So lotsa catchup up to do....