Our Rebecca can’t handle the pressure (From Bucks Free Press)
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Our Rebecca can’t handle the pressure
2:55pm Friday 21st January 2011 in Opinion
ROAD-RUNNING reporter Rebecca Cain may have completed half marathons in fabulous times, but she has been barred from joining a gym in High Wycombe – on the grounds of not being fit enough.
The reason: her blood pressure goes through the roof whenever she is tested.
Doctors have assured her she is as super-fit as she believes, but the nerves take over and her heart starts pumping madly whenever any gym experts test her health.
Last time a GP saw her, she managed to calm Rebecca down with general chit-chat, so our girl has to return to her doctor’s surgery to get a note before she can join the gymnasium.
Rebecca, who finished her last 13.1-mile race in 1.41 and was in the top couple of hundred runners in the last Wycombe Half Marathon, tells me: “I can’t explain why I get so nervous when they strap the blood pressure machine to my arm. It’s really embarrassing to be thought of as unfit in this way, and I wonder if anyone has any strategies to help me to calm down.”
Yes, Rebecca, I have one – take a copy of my column in to the gym and read it before the next test.
That’s bound to put you into such a deep slumber that they’ll probably not pick up any life readings from you at all.
wayneo says...
8:53pm Tue 25 Jan 11
I take mine daily and at roughly at the same time every day then take the weekly average. There is always the possibility that the Gym aren't using the correct cuff size or that their own equipment might require calibrating, if so, then they are likely to be unduly alarming people and b) worse, means that people who are joining the gym aren't providing correct results.