Important Information About Blood Pressure

All About Blood Pressure

What is Blood Pressure?

Blood pressure is a measurement of:

the force placed on the artery walls by the blood as it flows through the body
the effort made by your heart to push blood through the body
how flexible your arteries are..

Blood pressure is recorded using two numbers. When your blood pressure reading is written down, it looks like a fraction – for example: 120/80. The ‘fraction’ in this example is read as ‘one hundred and twenty over eighty.’ The top number is called the systolic blood pressure (the highest pressure in the artery when the heart is pumping). The bottom reading is called the diastolic blood pressure (the pressure in the arteries when the heart relaxes between beats).

Blood pressure readings change from moment to moment throughout the day. Your blood pressure is affected by many different things such as: activity, anxiety, caffeine, nicotine, eating and medications. For example, blood pressure tends to go up when you are anxious or excited and down when you are resting.

What is high blood pressure (hypertension)?

As a general rule of thumb, you are said to have high blood pressure when your blood pressure readings are almost always above 140/90. If your blood pressure is in the normal range, but you require medication to keep it in the normal range, you are also said to have high blood pressure.

Having one elevated blood pressure reading does not mean that you have high blood pressure. The diagnosis of high blood pressure is made after several blood pressure readings have been taken, on several separate occasions, under controlled circumstances, by a qualified health professional. By controlled circumstances we mean that the reading:

is taken after you have had a chance to relax for at least five minutes.
is not taken when you are excited, angry or emotionally upset.
is not taken within two hours of eating a large meal, consuming caffeine, smoking or participating in heavy physical activity.
is taken on the arm that typically gives the higher reading for you.
is done using the correct size of blood pressure cuff for the size of your arm.

The table below shows gives more detail about how blood pressure readings are classified:

Classification of Blood Pressure for Adults

Category Systolic Blood Pressure Diastolic Blood Pressure

Ideal less than 120 AND less than 80

Normal less than 130 AND less than 85

High-Normal 130-139 OR 85-89

Hypertension Stage 1 140-159 OR 90-99

Hypertension Stage 2 160-179 OR 100-109

Hypertension Stage 3 over 180 OR over 110

Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection & Treatment of High Blood Pressure (1997).

While no one wants to hear that they have high blood pressure, finding out that you have high blood pressure means that you can take steps to get it under control and help prevent the health problems associated with it.

Classification of Blood Pressure for Adults
Category	Systolic Blood Pressure		Diastolic Blood Pressure
Ideal	less than 120	AND	less than 80
Normal	less than 130	AND	less than 85
High-Normal	130-139	OR	85-89
Hypertension Stage 1	140-159	OR	90-99
Hypertension Stage 2	160-179	OR	100-109
Hypertension Stage 3	over 180	OR	over 110
Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection & Treatment of High Blood Pressure (1997).