re: Blood pressure ranges

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That was just insulting

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None of those are ranges.

If your BP is creeping up on you as you age then start a resistance training program to increase muscle mass.

A side benefit is that your BP will return to about 120/80.

120/80 is not a range of numbers.

way over 60 here, still runs 120/80 oe slightly lower

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I’m 73 and on no meds.

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You young kids bragging about being young!



Seriously tho, good job!

120/80 this morning at the doc

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While a tad high, being elevated prior to a surgery procedure is not uncommon. There's a thing called sudden high blood pressure which can be caused by different factors including stress/anxiety. Mine is usually 120/80 but will elevate prior to a procedure. You may be comfortable with the upcoming procedure but your body will tell the truth.

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My cardiologist calls it the "white coat syndrome". They always take mm BP twice when I there, once when I first get there and then again after the visit....as you can imagine it's always higher the first time and then by the end of the visit it's lowered

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They now want to medicate everyone who is not 120/80 which is more than 50% of the adult population.

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Also because you people are fat as frick and do not take care of yourselves at all.

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The thought is better health as we age, but the devil's advocate says more $ for big pharma.

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The first-line interventions for hypertension include lifestyle modifications, with medications only added depending on risk factors, including presence of metabolic derangement, risk of atherosclerotic CVD, family history, etc. The first-line medications are incredibly cheap and well-tolerated. We aren't giving medications to 30 y/o with pressures at 124/84 or something.

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To be exact, the old guidelines stated that high blood pressure was anything above 140/90. With the new guidelines, high blood pressure is defined as anything above 130/80.

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Yeah, they added a new stage to hypertensive disease. That's it.

The guidelines for prescriber's are actually more stringent, with serial blood pressure measurements in-office over the course of 2-3 office visits, with blood pressure taken from both arms. Then a blood pressure log with the patient taking their own BP at home with their feet flat on the floor, arm at heart level, done early in the morning at relatively the same time every day before caffeine intake.

The fact that often times patients have poor follow-up, or often just want a pill and/or don't take their health seriously until they have a scare is not something doctors can really do anything about.

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2. You should never take multiple readings back to back. You will get varied readings. I am having trouble remembering the guidelines but you are supposed to wait a half hour or hour even between readings for accuracy.

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The recommendations from the AHA suggest taking readings at least 1 minute apart from one another.

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4. A BP reading is a "snapshot" and you should never ever stress over a single reading unless it is way crazy outside the normal limits. Take readings over a period of time and look at the averages and trend. One of the posters talked about taking that list to his doc. That is how it is supposed to be done.

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Print out a blood pressure log from this LINK and log readings for about two weeks before your doctor's appointment. And then take the log with you to your appointment.

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Some things that are important:

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1. Those wrist cuffs and a lot of the Amazon cheap auto BP machines can be off by 10%-20%. They are notoriously unreliable.

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Do not even bother with the wrist cuffs. Expensive or cheap, all arm BP's can be off. Bought one and it was off as much as 30 points on the top number. Bought another one (same brand and model) and been off by maybe 5 at most. Have a friend who is a nurse and when I buy a new one I have them test daily for two weeks against the best way (stethascope and manual BP cuff)

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2. You should never take multiple readings back to back. You will get varied readings. I am having trouble remembering the guidelines but you are supposed to wait a half hour or hour even between readings for accuracy.

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I would say once a day tops and maybe a check back in 3 hours if really out of wack (if high, lie down and rest, if low, hydrate). often the more you take it, the higher it goes and you wind up in a vicious cycle.

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One of the posters talked about taking that list to his doc.

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As you age, you should get a routine, and do daily so you can take the "trend" when you see the doc.

This could be a sample ...
Wake up
Weigh in
Check sugar
Check BP

Breakfast

Work

Nap

Not a bad idea to check your oxygen as you get older as it will look fine when up and active but may drop at night while asleep to a not so good number.