LHSF Habit For Change Challenge
I struggle to relax.
I guess from the time I was born, life was wake up, get up, and go.
That can be good. It allows you to get some things done. It allows you to be involved and to keep busy.
It can also be bad. It’s difficult to flip the switch to the “off” position.
About a year and a half ago my wife and I were shopping and I wandered over to the toothpaste and shampoo aisles to pick up some toothpaste and shampoo. On my way I wandered past the blood pressure station and I sat down and pushed the button. It’s the adult version of the motorized horse or car ride for a dollar in the mall. And blood pressure readings are free.
I had always been bang-on 120 over 80. All good.
When this reading came up it was 135 over 90. Not good.
I told Kiersta and she reminded me that we had eaten a fat-filled meal the night before.
That had to be it.
The next week when we ventured out for groceries, I hit the blood pressure station immediately.
130 over 85. Slightly better, but look it up: Still not good.
It was winter and I wasn’t exercising as much so I upped the running and tried to dial down the bad food. (That’s not easy around Ontario Hockey League media rooms.)
None of that seemed to help.
At my annual physical I was plugged into a blood pressure monitor and told to relax. It took three readings and by the third one as I sat in the dark and looked at a video of ocean waves and palm trees on an iPad, the levels were just about normal.
The verdict: My elevated blood pressure was very likely due to what was going on between my ears.
But that wasn’t good enough. That initial reading at the grocery store had me rattled.
There is heart disease in my family. My body had turned onto the wrong road. I was sure of it.
I’ve always been a good worrier. This just game me added ammunition. Too much ammunition.
A few days later I was driving into work and had to stop at a pharmacy. What do you know, they had a blood pressure station. I could feel the anxiety rise in me as I walked by it. I wasn’t going to take a reading. I was just going to walk out. But I had to know.
144 over 98 with a resting heart rate of 95.
That just raised my anxiety even more.
The rest of that day was a write-off. I constantly checked my pulse. My insides felt hot.
On the way home I stopped at that same pharmacy (135 over 89) and bought a blood pressure gauge that I could use at home.
My strategy was: if you take readings often enough, the anxiety felt over taking readings will diminish and things should settle back down.
The idea might have sounded good in theory but in practice it just led to more and more anxiety and I stopped checking my blood pressure altogether.
Then the pandemic began.
I worried for my family as everyone did. I couldn’t feel calm.
My wife and I started walking more just to get out of the house. Added to other workouts and a much slower pace to life, I began to feel better.
I received an Apple Watch as a gift and the data supported how I was feeling. I was sleeping well. My resting heart rate was good.
That lasted into the winter until case counts began to creep up again. I also felt myself dealing with too much time on my hands. Too many thoughts in my head. I began to find health issues that weren’t there. I tried to book an annual physical and was told those were not being done in person for now. That didn’t help. I began to have more health concerns and I’d Google them.
Never do that.
The worry that I had reduced in the summer returned as 2021 began.
Then I found out about the 66-day Habit Change Challenge in support of the London Health Sciences Foundation and one of the suggested habits listed for change caught my eye.
I was in. I am in. And over the next two-plus months my goal is to learn to do something I have always struggled to do.
I am going to learn to relax.
– Mike Stubbs | Host of London Live on Global News 980 CFPL
Take part in the Habit For Change Challenge!
Got a habit in mind you want to change? Change it for the duration of the challenge. Or you can introduce healthy habits by participating in week-long challenges from local experts.