Title: Blood Pressure Monitoring Journal: A Hypertension Diary and Activity Log, Volume II
Author: Milton Lee, Ph.D. & Joyce Lee, Ph.D.
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1-5434-6946-2
Pages: 326
Genre: Health, Fitness and Diet
Reviewed by: Allison Walker
Pacific Book Review
Hypertension is something all Americans should be concerned about, since it puts you at risk for heart disease, the leading killer in the United States. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, affects one in every four adults. Milton Lee and Joyce Lee know this, which is why they decided to do something about it.
Blood Pressure Monitoring Journal can be described in two halves, together making for one great information and management tool. The first half of the journal is your information guide, and the last half is your personal health tracker. The diary comes with different strategies for tracking your health, including a nutrition log and monthly calendar. Every other page of the diary is a scenic image. The journal will fill quickly if it’s used every day, so while being a beautiful part of the book, the full-page image really limits the journal’s active usefulness.
The information guide, or first half of the journal, covers the basics of everything you need to know to get your blood pressure under control. The authors include how to read your measurements, causative factors of hypertension, and everything from exercise machines, to yoga, to good old-fashioned laughter to lower blood pressure. But they don’t stop there. A brief chapter includes some rarer diseases that can contribute to hypertension and might be misdiagnosed, as well as research on the relationship between microbiota in the digestive tract and blood pressure.
Balance exercises are included to help readers self-evaluate their fitness level. This wouldn’t be remarkable, except for the authors’ effectiveness in describing the activities. How many times have you tried to read directions, with no photos or diagrams to guide you, with absolutely no idea what you’re doing wrong or right? And only knowing you’re definitely doing something wrong because the exercise is not working. Milton and Joyce Lee spare you the trouble. Their directions are patient and careful; their descriptive commands are easy to visualize and perform.
For further reading, a bibliography is placed at the end of the information guide. Especially in a field such as medicine, where information so quickly becomes obsolete, the bibliography is disappointingly outdated. No source listed is younger than five years old. The information in the text suffers because of this; for example, according to Blood Pressure Monitoring Journal, mild hypertension is classified as a reading of 140/90. Meanwhile, in 2017 the American Heart Association published guidelines defining Stage 1 Hypertension as a measure of 130/80. This increases the number of Americans suffering high blood pressure and makes hypertension a much more serious epidemic.
Altogether, Blood Pressure Monitoring Journal is a handy artifact to carry in your purse or briefcase. The reader is equipped with the knowledge and tools to take control of your health and improve your wellness in a holistic and natural way. When over half of American adults with hypertension neglect their blood pressure, it’s never too soon to make a positive change for your health.
This is an excellent book for those suffering hypertension and includes numerous facts and strategies in following the life necessary
