How to Understand Your Blood Pressure Reading
If you’ve seen a blood pressure reading before, it’s always a set of two numbers. Below is what those numbers mean.
Systolic pressure – This is the number on top. It represents the pressure in your arteries when your heart pumps blood.
Diastolic pressure – This is the number at the bottom which represents the pressure in your arteries between the beats of your heart.
Confused about how to differentiate or understand your reading? Here are the different stages of hypertension readings in adults?
Healthy – The ideal blood pressure will read 120/80 mmHg (millimeters of Mercury)
Elevated – The systolic reading will be somewhere between 120 and 129 mmHg while the diastolic number reads less than 80 mmHg. This stage is usually treated with lifestyle changes and not medication.
Stage 1 hypertension – The systolic reading is between 130 and 139 mmHg or the diastolic number is between 80 or 89 mmHg.
Stage 2 hypertension – The systolic reading is 140 and above or the diastolic is 90 and above
Hypertensive crisis – When the systolic reading is above 180 mmHg or the diastolic reading is more than 120, urgent attention is needed.
In cases where the systolic and diastolic reading falls into different categories, the higher reading determines the classification. For instance, if the systolic reading is 140 mmHg and the diastolic reading is 80 mmHg, the person is considered to have stage 2 hypertension.
