John E

I, too, have a resting pulse around 43 to 46. I inherit a tendency toward hypertension from my maternal grandmother, who was once tested at 260/200 (!), but lived until age 94 anyway. When my BP tested out at 140/90 at age 23, I decided I needed to do something proactively. I gave up the salt shaker cold turkey, but sodium restriction proved to be necesssary, but not sufficient, for me. What finally cut my BP by 30/20 was going on the Pritikin low-fat diet, getting my own sphygmomanometer, so that I could monitor my BP between (annual or semi-annual) blood bank donations or (even rarer) doctor's office visits, and practicing slow, deep breathing and relaxation/meditation techniques. Psychologically, I have mellowed considerably with age (I consider myself a reformed hard-driving "Type A" personality), and this undoubtedly has helped me, as well.