A question we often receive in both the comments and via email is why the safe limit for high blood pressure keeps on changing.
Why is it that 20 years ago blood pressure of 130/90 was considered normal but now doctors want to put you on medications with that same reading?
So in today’s feature article I’m going to shed some light on the reality behind these numbers and what you should really be shooting for.
First of all lets look at the basics.
What are these mysterious numbers really?
Blood pressure is measured as systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
Systolic blood pressure is the pressure on the arteries when the heart is pumping, and is the top number. Diastolic blood pressure is the pressure on the arteries when the heart is resting.
As we age, systolic pressure especially tends to rise. And there has actually been quite a lot of controversy regarding whether high systolic pressure is really as dangerous as high diastolic pressure. Some studies actually indicate that in rare cases of elderly, fragile people, they may indeed benefit from having high systolic blood pressure.
But for most part, there is really no disagreement IF it’s harmful to have high blood pressure. After all, having the blood constantly banging on arterial walls causes hardening and thickening of the arterial tissue, as well as inflammation throughout the body.
The question is HOW high is too high. And that’s something that keeps changing.
And the answer is simple. More and more, repeated studies prove without a doubt how dangerous high blood pressure really is. It’s been traditionally linked to only heart attack and stroke, but as we study this better, we now know it contributes to almost all diseases.
[adrotate group=”5″]High blood pressure has lately been linked with several types of cancer. Almost 2/3 of people with type 2 diabetes also have high blood pressure. Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia are linked to long lasting high blood pressure. Even erectile dysfunction is often directly connected to hypertension.
About 20-30 years ago, normal blood pressure was considered anything below 130/90. With more long term studies coming out, we’ve now learned that risk factors of high blood pressure begin to develop at around 110/75.
If you’d look at a graph, the risk doesn’t rise in a straight, steady line. It gets much steeper around 120/80 and then really takes off around 130/90. So for every point over 120/80 your blood pressure rises, your risk of developing chronic diseases rises tremendously.
One thing that’s interesting about high blood pressure is that there is no debate about its harming effects.
This is different from high cholesterol, for example, where the metrics are constantly changing. First doctors just looked at overall cholesterol. Then they discovered “good cholesterol” (HDL) and “bad cholesterol” (LDL) and now they’re measuring even different subtypes within each of those. Plus there is great debate about whether or not high cholesterol even has any harmful effects.
For step-by-step plan to get your cholesterol under control, click here…
However, nobody argues that hypertension kills. And studies seem to be steadily going in one direction – make the blood pressure limits lower. I’d not be surprised if in a few years doctors recommended 110/75 as healthy blood pressure.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m far from being so naïve as to think there is no ulterior motive. As the numbers are pushed down, more and more people are “diagnosed” with high blood pressure. And since the only tool doctors have are medications, lower numbers mean more coins in the big pharma pockets.
And that’s where we need to fight back. We can acknowledge the problem by setting our goals at 120/80. But there are so many things that you can do to reach that goal naturally.
Lets take a few examples:
1) Juicing 250mg of beet juice immediately lowers blood pressure 5 points. Eating blueberries (and other antioxidant- rich foods), yogurt and using rice bran and sesame oils are a few more examples of foods that lower blood pressure.
2) Cutting out processed food alone (which is especially high in sodium) can bring blood pressure down to a healthy level.
3) Listening to relaxation music or relaxing classical music for 12 minutes a day generates a 7-9 point drop in blood pressure.
4) Doing a high intensity workout for 15 minutes, three times a week, lowers the risk of developing cardiovascular disease at least 25% and lower your blood pressure 10 points.
These are just a few examples of things you can do today to lower your blood pressure. If you add up the benefits listed above, you can see that lowering your blood pressure 15 – 20 points is very much possible using only simple, natural approaches. For more tips on tackling various conditions click the “Browse by Topic” button at the top of this page.
The simplest, easiest method I know, and the method I used to finally get my blood pressure under control is the simple blood pressure exercise program I developed a few years ago.
These exercises have now helped thousands of people just like you to drop their blood pressure below 120/80, usually within a week. Many people experience their blood pressure go down to normal the very first time they do these exercises.
For more information and to test drive the blood pressure exercises, click here…
But first of all, what are your thoughts on this topic? Please leave your comment below.
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When I was an EMT in the id 80s, normal blood pressure was considered normal if it was 100 plus your age for systolic and any reading below 90 for the diastolic was considered ok. The times they are a changin.
Oh Julia!!! Here is some more info on cholesterol.
Shame on you! You know perfectly well the lowering of systolic numbers is all down to Big Pharma's greed! I have same Bp as 35 years ago, but now I'm told it's too high! What nonsense……
One BP number doesn’t fit all just like one shoe size doesn’t fit all. When measuring blood pressure U also have to take a persons cholesterol into consideration. also the persons age,weight ,height and waist measurements must be considered. and don’t forget the pause is very important. The fool doctors put me on Drugs for HBP when all I had was “white coat hypertension”. I spent 3 yeras getting off the drugs. My cholestrerol was 149,no one in my family had HBP but did have low blood pressure. My blood pressure at home ,relaxed was 125/77-133/80. My pause was a healthy 60 bpm am age at the time was 67 years old and i was in excelent physical shape. The doctors almost killed me with their drugs and more drugs for the side effects of their HBP drugs. In the past three years I have studied and read over 13 medical and natural healing books ,written by doctors that support everything i have written above. Over 25% of pacients are put on HBP drugs by doctors when the pacient only has “white coat hypertension”. Many seniors are put on drugs and the drugs kill them before the hBP would have killled them.
and why does cpr change every five seconds????? the way i learned in high school health class has already changed! these people are on crack i swear.
The very nigh I started the blood pressure program my blood pressure went down the next day, and then I started cutting out salt I saw greater improvement. this is like wining the lottery, thanks Christian Goodman.
I couldn’t agree with Jerry above more. I sometimes have to resort to taking
a diuretic to get my blood pressure numbers down, but there are always side
effects to that route so I am desperately trying to control the numbers naturally. Some people are very sensitive to drugs and I happen to be one
of them so I have to be very careful ingesting any drug.
We are NOT all the same. To set a standard for ALL as regards blood pressure, cholesterol, sugar, etc, is to turn people into a pharmaceutical customer. ALL the advice given by the "health and nutrition" pundits has proven to be catastrophically WRONG. Millions are dying from the "healthy" eating that has been propagated particularly in the last thirty years. Who of us do not know of those around us who are in ill health? Nearly EVERYONE is on medication, many on several medications, which in turn exacerbate more problems within the body. Many drugs are worse than the illness they are meant to help. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, literally; and we are eating the WRONG foods provided by the same corporate mafia that owns the pharmaceutical industry. Go back to the natural, look up those peoples today who are still trying to eat like their forefathers and whose health record is there for all to see. Whole generations of people whose diet demonstrates that what they are eating has protected them from the diseases that the "civilised" world generates. ONLY when these people start to eat 'civilised' food do they start getting all the diseases that are of plague like proportions in the 'civilised world.
All the evidence is staring us in the face, but most people live in denial, fearful they will lose their jobs, or advertising revenue from food manufacturing, or be looked upon as a maverick, while watching society getting sicker and sicker.
It is shameful to behold people who are in responsible positions talking through the media as though cancer, diabetes, heart disease, athritis, are part of life, as though normal? This is the mentality that has been established into the masses. These diseases are AVOIDABLE, and all the heart break that goes with them, they are all the cause of corporate greed.
Buy Himalayan salt, it is made up of 84 minerals and vitamins and trace elements. That is real salt, not that poison the supermarkets sell, in fact it will lower your blood presure. Those nomads who lived in the deserts valued salt like gold. It was not the water that was most important in such an envoiroment but the salt. For salt holds the water, where you and I would be drinking every two minutes in such an environment, they would go for hours so preserving their precious water. They knowing they could not do that without the salt. Roman soldiers were paid in salt. Wars have been fought over it. Salt is precious, and your body needs it, it is very important for the correct functioning of the body. This pharmaceutical poisoning machine seeks to demean all that is natural. The body needs air, water, AND salt, and plenty sunshine. And They poison them all, or tell us not to indulge in the natural unless we buy THEIR sunscreen, or THEIR low sodium salt.
well…
I’m just wondering, I’m already 54 yrs old, if my blood pressure read below 120/75, I feel pain in my heart, but if 130/80 I feel very normal, can any one please tell me the possible reason, I was diagnosed with CAD and put in medication for quite some time, but i get worst, so I stop all my 14 kinds of medicines, from high blood , diabetic to high collesterol( even my collesterol is normal), I’m now taking natural med., like fresh garlic, raw green vegetables, fruits, thanks to any one who can advise me !!!!
130/90? It used to be 140/90. Until big pharma began influencing the medical establishment. The European Journal of Medicine reported there was no improvement in mortality from stroke or heart failure the lower you went below 140/90.
RE: High BP and Cholesterol: Beware of RX drug pushers. The cure can kill you, too. Fight with the natural approach and take really good care of yourself. Use Red Rice Yeast, Garlic, meditation, exercise, prayer, supplements, whatever works, and eat less meat.
I thank God that I have decided to depend on natural means to lower my BP which is around 136/81. But please I need assistant on how to have good sleep at night.
@Onipede Wusu
Thanking God is an important part of good health. I have found a really good thing that helps me sleep. http://www.brownwoodacres.com/cherryflex-softgels.html
I got them for pain, but the fantastic thing is they not only work great for that, but also help me sleep much better. If I wake up, I feel like I can quickly doze off again, opposed to laying there thinking “Why can’t I sleep.” Thank the Health Ranger for this great tip. http://www.naturalnews.com/030760_tart_cherries_insomnia.html