Pressura Founder: Why I do Pressura

It will be a rather personal text. Quite a few years ago, more than ten for sure, I was diagnosed with hypertension. My blood pressure readings were somewhere in the range 160-180 / 90-110, but since I had no symptoms I did not think twice of it.

Learning to live with hypertension

In my case, the learning curve to living with high blood pressure was long and twisted. I did not feel anything, why should I bother? Slowly, through occasional acquaintances, I was getting diverse bits and pieces about salt intake, importance of sleep, necessity to take medications, and to go see a doctor.

I started to google credible sources, and accumulated more and more information. I went to see doctors, and got medications. I started with daily pills, then dropped it. Did not feel anything. And several times like this. Only later, I learnt how dangerous it was to stop abruptly.?

My disregard for a blood pressure friendly lifestyle resulted in a hypertensive crisis. I do want to describe it here, not to scare anybody. In short, it felt like dying.?

It was only after that I started researching and trying to follow guidelines advised by the medical community worldwide. I learnt what the normal range of blood pressure was, what is considered elevated, high, and extreme. I started gathering information about factors that affect blood pressure.

Media projects on blood pressure

I accumulated more and more knowledge, that resulted in two projects, bloodpressure.me, a website with practical lifehacks on lowering blood pressure, and Blood Pressure Digest, a LinkedIn based newsletter with latest updates on blood pressure related research, treatments, medications, tech, nutrition, and lifestyle (please subscribe here). Here twice a week, I target both healthcare professionals with focus on hypertension, and patients, hypertension sufferers.

In my newsletter, I devote a significant effort to cover new blood pressure related medical devices, such as smart rings and smartwatches, and innovative software solutions, often AI/ML based.

From knowledge to management

However, I was amazed by the absence of any proper blood pressure management apps. Most blood pressure related apps, both at AppStore and Google Play, are just to log your blood pressure. Most modern blood pressure monitors come with such apps, hence the decreasing need for independent, separate logging apps.

Otherwise, there was virtually nothing to help a hypertension sufferer with information and navigation in an effort to develop and maintain a blood pressure friendly lifestyle.

This is what I want to solve with Pressura, an app that is envisaged to host modules on food (to tell you in detail how it will affect your blood pressure), personal AI generated meal plans, sleep (with personal recommendations on the pattern), anti-stress module, activities motivator, and a personal AI digital assistant to consult if you need to contact healthcare system in case of unusual or high readings, or to help navigate to a lifestyle change.?

I will present Pressura in detail in the next article.