

Over time, blood vessels may become hardened. The higher pressure in your arteries may cause them to weaken and bleed, resulting in a stroke. When your blood pressure is high, your heart has to work harder just to pump a normal amount of blood through your body. High blood pressure increases your risk of cardiovascular disease (heart or blood vessel disease). Systolic high blood pressure is more common as people get older. Stage-2 high blood pressure is over 160/100.Stage-1 high blood pressure ranges from a systolic pressure of 140 to 159 or a diastolic pressure of 90 to 99.Prehypertension is a systolic pressure of 120 to 139 or a diastolic pressure of 80 to 89.Healthy blood pressure is less than 120/80.The second number (80 in this example) is the pressure when the heart rests between beats (diastolic pressure). The first number (120 in this example) is the pressure when the heart pushes blood out to the rest of the body.

Normal blood pressure ranges up to 120/80 mm Hg ("120 over 80"), but blood pressure can rise and fall with exercise, rest, or emotions. (When the cause of hypertension is known, such as kidney disease and tumors, it is called secondary hypertension.) About 95% of all people with high blood pressure have essential hypertension.īlood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). Hypertension is called essential or primary when no cause for the high blood pressure can be found. Hypertension is the term for blood pressure that keeps being higher than normal. High Blood Pressure (Essential Hypertension) What is essential hypertension? Blood pressure is the force of blood against artery walls as the heart pumps blood through the body.
