sailing is good for you

[John R]

I posted before about my engine not starting, but here's a tip about keeping your other "engine" - your heart - in good shape.

I've been diagnosed with moderately high blood pressure. So I got a blood pressure monitor to keep tabs on it. What I posted about before was my engine not starting. That was last Saturday. When it didn't start, I just hung out on the boat and talked for 3 hours or so with the guy who was supposed to come with me. Then, today, I was working on the engine with one of my boat partners. No pressure, just trying to figure things out.

Both times, when I got home I checked my blood pressure and it was 120/78. That's what an extremely health 20 year-old would have. I'd been considering selling my boat because I'm not using it enough, but the solution to that is not to sell the boat but to use it more... and live longer!

 

[dlochner]

Nice insight!

My wife once noted that I am much more pleasant and relaxed when I'm on the boat. Almost a different person.

Sailing is good for you.

 

[rgranger]

I just have to imagine sailing and I feel better.

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

I have found that my blood pressure is always highest in the morning.Late afternoons, my readings are what they should be for, my age. I take a low dosage of medicine for the BP

 

[Solarfry]

I used to have BP 175/95 and had to take 10mg Amlodipine daily. I quit going to restaurants because the main seasoning at all restaurants is an unhealthy amount of salt. I eliminated salt from my diet and added a banana at least 2x per week. Since I quit salt and restaurants my BP has been 116 to 110 over 58 and my pulse is under 60. I take 5 mg Amlodipine. BP medications kill kidneys and livers so be careful. When I h ave to go to restaurants while traveling I look for small non chain restaurants who will prepare my food grilled without salt. Chain restaurants have their food pre-seasoned and cannot really take the salt out.

 

[capta]

When my guests find out I'm 71, most can't believe it. I sit cross-legged behind the helm, climb from the dink to the deck w/o the use of any step or ladder and walk around the boat while underway, as if I was on solid ground.
I seriously doubt I'd even be alive if I'd spent my life in civilization. I might be sitting on my daughter's front porch waiting to die, had I lived to this age, but I certainly wouldn't be sailing in the Caribbean with my lovely wife, running a charter boat and having a ball, most days. I can step several feet from a dock into the Zodiac without falling or losing my balance, sit down and pull start a 15 hp 4 stroke outboard w/one hand.
My blood pressure has been around 120 over 80 for the last 30 years or so and my resting pulse has always been around 64.
I certainly can't say anything about anyone else, but I sincerely believe my life as a seafarer has been what keeps me relatively fit and healthy. My only fear is that as I age, I may come down with some age related ailments and w/o the Medicare I worked to pay for my whole life, I'll be sh*t out of luck.

 

[DArcy]

Amen brother! Sailing is the best medicine I have. Or even just working on the boat in the slip. It's important to have something in your life you can really enjoy doing. It makes all the stress of grown up life worth it.