(systolic/diastolic)

Normal: systolic less than 120/ diastolic less than 80 (lifestyle change encourged)

Prehypertensive: systolic: 120-139 / diastolic 80-89 (lifestyle change – yes… no meds except for compelling medical indications)

Stage I hypertension: systolic 140-159 / diastolic 90-99 (first line tx: thiazide diuretics)

Stage II hypertension:
systolic greater than or equal to 160/ diastolic greater than or equal to 100 (Tx: drug combo; thiazide diuretic + ACE inhibitor or ARB or beta blocker or calcium channel blocker)

====
(systolic/diastolic)

Normal: <120/=160/>=100 (Tx: drug combo; thiazide diuretic + ACE inhibitor or ARB or beta blocker or calcium channel blocker)

====

A low fat, high fiber, low calorie diet, with salt reduction is a good idea for everyone, but strongly encouraged for you. And physical activity is also shown to decrease blood pressure. As you describe your body shape, you may also be at risk for type II diabetes melitus, so have your primary care physician check your blood glucose. Based on your height, if you lose 10 lbs, your BMI will be at 24.9, which is considered healthy.

Please don’t think that loading up on potassium (K+) will lower your blood pressure; it’s not recommended. In fact, in people with healthy functioning kidneys, excess K+, and sodium (Na+) are excreted in your urine, and thus levels of these electrolytes are optimally maintained in the blood, so eating more K+ just means peeing it out that same day. Although lowering salt intake is a great idea, it doesn’t guarantee a lower BP for all people. Most cases of hypertension are of unknown causes (idiopathic) and require medication to correct and salt restriction would not be sufficient to adjust their BP to normal levels. There is no fad diet that satisfactorily produces a lifetime of good health. You have to adopt a healthy lifestyle, find a healthy diet you enjoy, then eat in moderation, and stick to it… yeah, it has to be something you can maintain, so you better be happy with it. The Mediterranean diet is highly touted for its cardiovascular benefits, so you might want to look into that.

Btw, for young adults like yourself, the diastolic BP is a better indicator of future hypertension. Yours is 80 mm/Hg, which is marginally high based on the JNC7 report, but 79 mm/Hg is considered normal… so keep that in in the back of your mind so that you don’t worry so much… because stress is also known to affect BP.

One last thing about BP: If you got one reading, it’s not enough. BP changed throughout the day… plus there’s something called white coat syndrome that could account for your BP. For some reason some people have a rise in BP when around doctors

GOOD LUCK & GOOD HEALTH!!!

JD
MS-III

Source data: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/hypertension/jncintro.htm

Medindia.net – Blood Pressure charts
Medindia’s simple tool alerts you if for your age your blood pressure is abnormal by displaying the normal values. This measurement is important if you are … – 58k – Cached – Similar pages