My heart muscle takes longer to relax.. What is this called

[Alyjod3]

Got my results back from heart tests.  The doctor says my heart muscle takes slightly longer to relax than normal.  And it's not usually seen in people my age (28).What is it called when this happens,  and how can you keep it from getting worse?

[Ger57]

You are right.
The heart functions as a pulsating pump. Therefore the blood pressure in your arteries varies during the pumping cycle of your heart
When the heart muscle squeezes the blood out of the left ventricle during the systolic phase, the blood pressure in your arteries temporarily rises. This is the systolic pressure.
During the diastolic phase, the heart muscle relaxes and the left ventricle fills with blood from the left atrium. The blood pressure in your arteries lower during that phase and is called the diastolic blood pressure.

A BP value of 120/70 means 120mmHg systolic and 70mmHg diastolic pressure.

The ideal BP is considered to be between 90/60 and 120/80
A diastolic pressure of 90 is therefore a bit high.

[tsanjose]

oh i see. great article. so is this whats considered the diastolic reading when taking our BP? ive always been in the 70's when at rest but when standing it ranges from high 70's and a few times my diastolic read 90. from what i understand 90 is kind of high.

[Ger57]

No, what you describe is your heart recovery rate. A nice explanation is on:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/260805-the-recovery-heart-rate-time-after-cardio-exercise/

Left diastolic dysfunction means that the left ventricle, after is has squeezed out blood into the aorta and it start to fill again with blood from the left atrium, does not so easily relax as it should. Therefore the filling with blood is a bit hampered and the total pumping capacity of the heart is  lower than it should be.

[tsanjose]

just curious, do you mean after you exercise it takes a little longer for your heart to go back down to resting HR? if so, i also have that. i've been seeing a cardiologist and he said it's likely a conditioning thing for me. i just had mitral valve repair in november 2015 and i'm pretty much still in recovery. what i read too is that when you exercise, take your HR. stop exercising and in roughly 1 minute your HR should lower 20pts below your peak. 30 or more is even better. my peak is roughly 140-150 during exercise and in 1 minute it drops to 100's. after 2 mins it drops to high 90's and stays there until i'm fully rested 20 minutes after my workout.

[Alyjod3]

It is diastolic dysfunction.  I found out

[Alyjod3]

I've been looking this up and believe it is called diastolic dysfunction.  Does anyone have this that can tell me any information about how it affects you and what you do to manage or treat it?

[Bigcat7575]

Sounds like what my Dr told me. I'm 35. He said diet and exercise will improve it.