Blood pressure can change depending on your age, health conditions, and other lifestyle factors. Keeping an eye on these numbers is important because when your hypertension rises or falls rapidly—or remains high or low for an extended period of time—it can be a sign of poor health and lead to serious health consequences, including an increased risk of premature death.
One way to easily keep tabs on your blood pressure is with an at-home blood pressure monitor. In fact, many of the at-home monitors on our Best Hypertension Monitors ranking
What Is Normal Blood Pressure?
An ordinary circulatory strain perusing “shows that the heart and veins are not buckling down pushing blood and that the blood isn’t applying an excess of tension on the walls of the vessels,” says Aseem Desai, M.D., a cardiologist at Fortune Mission Medical clinic in Southern California. Late information from the American Heart Affiliation proposes the ideal-typical perusing for grown-ups north of 20 is lower than 120/80 mmHg
High BP Symptoms
High hypertension is known as “the silent killer” because it typically has no symptoms. In fact, most people don’t even realize they have hypertension until their blood pressure is monitored.
If you have severe hypertension, you might notice the below symptoms, some of which were reported by patients
- Headaches
- Shortness of breath
- Nosebleeds
- Flushing
- Dizziness
- Chest pains
Treatment: How to Lower High Blood Pressure
“A healthy lifestyle can help prevent some of the damage that can occur with hypertension, as well as help lower hypertension to some extent,” says Dr. Wong. He recommends:
- Limiting your salt intake to 2.3 grams a day.
- Completing 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise.
- Limiting your alcohol intake.
What Is Low Blood Pressure?
While hypertension can be problematic for your overall health, hypertension that’s too low can also be cause for concern. With that said, the American Heart Association doesn’t recognize a specific day-to-day blood pressure reading as “too low.”
What Causes Low Hypertension?
There are many possible reasons for low BP, according to both Dr. Wong and Dr. Desai, including:
- Heart problems like heart failure or low heart rates
- Endocrine problems, such as parathyroid disease, adrenal insufficiency, or hypoglycemia
- Dehydration
Low Blood Pressure Symptoms
Low hypertension symptoms can include:
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
- Nausea
- Dehydration
- Lack of concentration
- Blurred vision
- Cold, clammy skin