What Actually Constitutes High Blood Pressure

The technical definition of what is high blood pressure and what is acceptable blood pressure has changed dramatically over the years. This is mostly due to big pharma influence. In the 1950s and 1960s the systolic number was considered to be acceptable as long as it was lower or equal to 100 plus your age. Doctors went by this for many years. Studies had confirmed that this was a safe way to establish an acceptable blood pressure in older people.

Fast forward to the 1980s, and the blood pressure standard changed. It was now thought that 140/90 was the highest ideal blood pressure. And anything over that was considered hypertension. This standard was created based on the rising heart disease cases being seen in America. And although many thorough studies were done to come to this conclusion, it did not implement key factors. The reason why the rate of heart disease had grown in America could have been mainly due to the rise in processed food. In the 1950s TV dinners became popular. Weekend barbecues of processed meat became a regular occasion for a lot of families. And more fillers and harmful preservatives started entering food ingredients lists. Another factor could have been more desk jobs and sedentary life styles started arising.

Fast forward to 2017, and the blood pressure standards were lowered yet again. And this time to drastically low numbers. Now 120/80 is considered normal blood pressure, and anything above it is considered hypertension. This means if your uncomplicated blood pressure reading was 125/85, doctors could potentially prescribe you blood pressure lowering drugs. Which would be a huge mistake in that scenario.

Now in 2021, the high blood pressure standard could change again. Influence from pharmaceutical companies and third party labs who are paid by pharmaceutical companies are attempting to lower the blood pressure standards from 120/80 to 115/75. This is absurd for a number of reasons. The first one being 115/75 in many people could actually be considered hypotension. Some patients with blood pressure that low may actually experience dizziness. And with that standard in place, that would mean patients who have absolutely normal blood pressure will be prescribed hypertension drugs on a regular basis. And as a result many of them will be experiencing sickening side effects from being on drugs they don’t even need.

So the question you probably have is which standard is right? What blood pressure guidelines should I be following? Well here at blood pressure authority we feel the standard set in the 1980s is the most accurate. Based on dozens of clinical trails, 140/90 should be looked at as the baseline for hypertension. With that being said, that does not mean if your blood pressure is 141/91 you should run out and go on drugs immediately. In fact, under some circumstances blood pressure being higher than that is acceptable. Say if a patient had blood pressure of 146/92 when they were a teenager. And now at 70 years of age, it is the same. That patient would only see negative side effects from lowering their blood pressure with a drug regimen. If a persons blood pressure has stayed the same through out their whole life, and it is in somewhat of a reasonable range, then hypertension treatment may be unnecessary as long as there are no other complications attributing to it. In scenarios where patients really do have elevated blood pressure which needs to be controlled, remember that high blood pressure has to be sustained for a decent period of time to cause any real issues. You should look into natural blood pressure remedies first. If you can get your blood pressure in the right area with natural methods, that is the best case scenario.