Certainly fits my experience
Via Eurekalert:

Trips to the toilet at night are a sign of high blood pressure, according to results from the Watari study presented today at the 83rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Japanese Circulation Society (JCS 2019).

Fits my experience. From age 50 to 60, I was peeing more and more often. Figured it was just the typical prostate stuff that goes with aging. During those years I was ALSO suffering more and more from circulation problems, and finally reached a point where I couldn't walk more than a block without pounding heart and heavy breathing.

At 60 I finally broke down and visited a doctor, and found that blood pressure was WAY up. Started taking pills, blood pressure immediately went down, circulation and endurance gradually improved. Now at 69 I walk a mile every day without any problems. Endurance is actually better than it was at 40.

AND the "prostate" problems also went away immediately. Sleep is never interrupted by need to pee.

Conventional wisdom thinks of high blood pressure as PRESSURE, which is reasonable; that's the name, and that's how it feels.

We'd understand it better, and probably handle it better, if we thought of it as too much water. The cited article explains simply:

"Our study indicates that if you need to urinate in the night - called nocturia - you may have elevated blood pressure and/or excess fluid in your body," said study author Dr Satoshi Konno. "If you continue to have nocturia, ask your doctor to check your blood pressure and salt intake."

Dr Mutsuo Harada said: "Hypertension is a national disease in Japan. The average salt intake in Japan is approximately 10 g/day, which is more than double the average salt intake worldwide (4 g/day). This excessive salt intake is related to our preference for seafood and soy sauce-based food, so salt restriction is difficult to carry out. Early detection and management of hypertension are very important to prevent cardiovascular diseases. We should keep in mind that nocturia is not only caused by urinary organ problems but also by systemic diseases such as hypertension."

Hmm. This paragraph counters TWO separate conventional wisdoms. Along with pressure vs volume, it counters our standard notion that Japs are the role model for healthy diet. In fact their diet is NOT healthy, but they still live to 150. Hmm again. Maybe there's something else going on? Maybe people are .... dare I say .... DIFFERENT? Nah. Impossible. All enlightened progressive moderns know that genes don't exist. All differences are social constructs. We believe firmly in the Holy Name of Darwin and we stoutly defend the Holy Name of Darwin against evil alt-right heretics, but we don't believe in any of Darwin's actual observations.


THEORY KILLS. EXPERIENCE SURVIVES.


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Footnote: I'm constantly and validly bashing the evils of peer review in "science". But what did I just write? I wrote a peeer review of a scientific article.

Labels: coot-proofing, TMI

  ¶ 1:34 AM