The Archives of Internal Medicine published online a study conducted on over 2,000 seniors.

This research found that high blood pressure can actually be a positive thing, except if you are a frail person in elder years when it is a real health issue.

Yet, even if the blood pressure is completely normal, you should always take care of it, and incorporate some dietary changes, in order to prevent an increase in it, and support the health of the heart, and the entire organism.

Once more, high blood pressure is a real health threat, as it damages the arteries in the heart, as well as the kidneys and the body, causing stroke, kidney failure, heart attacks, and various other health issues. Due to all this, treatments of high blood pressure are quite aggressive.

Yet, newer studies suggest that the same approach does not provide the same results in all people since the treatment to lower the blood pressure in a 70-year old man should be different than in the case of a 40-year old one.

The American Heart Association states that starting at age 20, in the case the blood pressure is less than 120/80 mm Hg, it is advisable that you regularly do a blood pressure screening or every few years.

The blood pressure is raised by every single heartbeat, and it falls between beats, as the heart relaxes. Thus, the blood pressure varies within a minute, and can be changed due to stress, sleep, exercise, and posture.

However, in the case of a person older than 20, an adult, its normal value should be lower than 120/80 mm Hg (less than 120 systolic and less than 80 diastolic).

Research has shown that every third man in the U.S. has high blood pressure.  Yet, one blood pressure reading does not mean that you are one of them, so you should do few readings before your doctor diagnoses high blood pressure.

In the case results show that it remains at 140/90 mm Hg or above (systolic 140 or above OR diastolic 90 or above) after some time, you should definitely change something in your lifestyle, and in case your readings indicate that the blood pressure is at 140/90 or higher, your doctor will advise the use of suitable medication.

Note that you should repeat the monitoring after several minutes if you get a systolic reading of 180 mm Hg or higher, or a diastolic reading of 110 mm HG or higher.

If the second monitoring shows the same results, you should immediately call the emergency medical service as you are in a hypertensive crisis.

Sources:
goodmorningcenter.com
supertastyrecipes.com