Hypertension – Know Your Numbers!

We’re supporting Blood Pressure UK’s Know Your Numbers! Week (4-10 September), encouraging local people – especially those over the age of 40 – to get their blood pressure checked at a local pharmacy.

Hypertension, or high blood pressure, rarely has noticeable symptoms. But if untreated, it increases your risk of serious problems such as heart attacks and strokes.

Around a third of adults in the UK have high blood pressure, although many will not realise it. The only way to find out if your blood pressure is high is to have your blood pressure checked. Getting this done is easy and could save your life.

If you have high blood pressure, your GP practice can help you decide about treatment – this is a priority for them to prevent you becoming seriously unwell.

There is a lot you can do to reduce blood pressure by taking healthy lifestyle changes.

What is high blood pressure?

Blood pressure is recorded with two numbers. The systolic pressure (higher number) is the force at which your heart pumps blood around your body.

The diastolic pressure (lower number) is the resistance to the blood flow in the blood vessels between heartbeats when blood is pumped around your heart.

They’re both measured in millimetres of mercury (mmHg).

As a general guide:

high blood pressure is considered to be from 140/90mmHg or more if your reading was taken at a GP surgery or clinic (or an average of 135/85mmHg if it was taken at home)
if you’re over the age of 80, high blood pressure is considered to be from 150/90mmHg or more if your reading was taken at a GP surgery or clinic (or an average of 145/85mmHg if it was taken at home)
ideal blood pressure is usually considered to be between 90/60mmHg and 120/80mmHg, while the target for people over the age of 80 years old is below 150/90mmHg (or 145/85mmHg if it was taken at home)

Blood pressure readings from 121/81mmHg to 139/89mmHg could mean you’re at risk of developing high blood pressure if you do not take steps to keep your blood pressure under control.

Everyone’s blood pressure will be slightly different. What’s considered low or high for you may be normal for someone else.

Check your blood pressure

The only way of knowing whether you have high blood pressure is to have a blood pressure test.

All adults over 40 years old are advised to have their blood pressure checked at least every five years.

Getting this done is easy and could save your life.

You can get your blood pressure tested at your local pharmacy, as well as your GP surgery.

You can also check your blood pressure yourself with a home blood pressure monitor.

Find out more about getting a blood pressure test

Understanding your blood pressure reading

If you have a recent blood pressure reading use the NHS Check your blood pressure tool to understand what your reading means. You’ll also get information about what to do next.

Risks of high blood pressure

If your blood pressure is too high, it puts extra strain on your blood vessels, heart and other organs, such as the brain, kidneys and eyes.

Persistent high blood pressure can increase your risk of a number of serious and potentially life-threatening health conditions, such as:

If you have high blood pressure, reducing it even a small amount can help lower your risk of these health conditions.

Things that can increase your risk of getting high blood pressure

It’s not always clear what causes high blood pressure, but there are things that can increase your risk.

You might be more at risk if you:

are overweight
eat too much salt and do not eat enough fruit and vegetables
do not do enough exercise
drink too much alcohol or coffee (or other caffeine-based drinks)
smoke
have a lot of stress
are over 65 years old
have a relative with high blood pressure
are of black African or Black Caribbean descent
live in a deprived area

Making healthy lifestyle changes can sometimes help reduce your chances of getting high blood pressure and help lower your blood pressure if it’s already high.

High blood pressure is also sometimes caused by an underlying health condition or taking a certain medicine.

Treatment for high blood pressure

Doctors can help you keep your blood pressure to a safe level using:

lifestyle changes
medicines

What works best is different for each person.

Talk to your doctor to help you decide about treatment.

This patient decision aid from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) (PDF, 132kb) can also help you to understand your treatment options.

Lifestyle changes to reduce blood pressure

These lifestyle changes can help prevent and lower high blood pressure:

reduce the amount of salt you eat and have a generally healthy diet
cut back on alcohol
lose weight if you’re overweight
exercise regularly
cut down on caffeine
stop smoking

Some people with high blood pressure may also need to take 1 or more medicines to stop their blood pressure getting too high.

Medicines for high blood pressure

If you’re diagnosed with high blood pressure, your doctor may recommend taking 1 or more medicines to keep it under control.

These come as tablets and usually need to be taken once a day.

Common blood pressure medicines include:

ACE inhibitors – such as enalapril, lisinopril, perindopril and ramipril
angiotensin-2 receptor blockers (ARBs) – such as candesartan, irbesartan, losartan, valsartan and olmesartan
calcium channel blockers – such as amlodipine, felodipine and nifedipine or diltiazem and verapamil
diuretics – such as indapamide and bendroflumethiazide
beta blockers – such as atenolol and bisoprolol
alpha blockers – such as doxazosin
other diuretics – such as amiloride and spironolactone

The medicine recommended for you will depend on things like how high your blood pressure is, your age and your ethnicity.