Determining what is Good Blood Pressure

In the quest to discover if you have high blood pressure or not it is important to understand what is good blood pressure? Many individuals may think that what is good blood pressure is something that is based upon opinion. The truth is that there is a very good way of determining what is good blood pressure. Any medical professional can tell you that a blood pressure reading can be used to establish whether or not a person has good blood pressure or if the person has high blood pressure.

When determining what is good blood pressure as opposed to what is high blood pressure one must understand what makes up a blood pressure reading. A blood pressure reading consists of two numbers. The two numbers are the systolic and diastolic blood pressure numbers. The systolic number is the top number and the diastolic is the bottom number. Blood pressure readings are taken by a blood pressure cuff and machine or stethoscope. The numbers tell whether or not the blood pressure is within the normal range, is considered to be pre-hypertension, or is considered to be high blood pressure. The numbers for high blood pressure are further broken down into two categories: stage 1 and stage 2.
If a person has good blood pressure the blood pressure reading is within the normal range which is less than 120 for the systolic number (the one at the top) and less than 80 for the diastolic number (the one on the bottom). Determining what is good blood pressure has to take into consideration both the systolic and the diastolic number.

A blood pressure reading that is NOT a good blood pressure reading would be one in which the systolic number is between 120 and 139 and the diastolic number is between 80 and 89 a reading like this would be considered to be prehypertension.

Another reading that would NOT be considered good blood pressure would be if the numbers were between 140 and 159 for the systolic and between 90 and 99 for the diastolic as this would be considered to be stage 1 hypertension (high blood pressure).

If a reading was 160 or higher for the systolic and 100 or higher for the diastolic than this blood pressure reading would be stage 2 hypertension and would definitely NOT be considered a good blood pressure.
There are many reasons why it is important to understand what is a good blood pressure reading and what is NOT a good blood pressure reading. Basically individuals diagnosed with high blood pressure would need to understand these reasons so that they will know how important it is to monitor blood pressure readings on a regular basis. If they know the difference between what a good blood pressure reading looks like and what a blood pressure reading looks like when it is considered to be high than they will know when to take steps to lower the blood pressure reading. Another reason for knowing blood pressure is that high blood pressure is often a sign or symptom of a medical condition that needs immediate attention such as eclampsia in pregnancy.

High blood pressure, especially when it is high for a period of time can lead to many serious medical conditions including heart attack, brain and kidney damage, and even death. To avoid these serious medical consequences of high blood pressure individuals at risk for high blood pressure or those who have been diagnosed with high blood pressure should be good at determining what is good blood pressure and what is high blood pressure and then of course know what to do if the blood pressure is high. Individuals can learn how to monitor blood pressure at home when they visit the doctor. They can also learn what to do if the blood pressure reading is not a good blood pressure reading.