What is the Healthy Blood Pressure Range?

As we all know, blood pressure is the force exerted by the flowing blood against the walls of blood vessels, the veins, and the arteries. It is one of the most important vital signs, which reveals the overall health of a person. In order to understand what is healthy blood pressure, it is important to know what is systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

The former refers to the pressure exerted against the arterial walls when the heart pumps blood to the arteries, while the latter is the pressure measured between two heart beats or when the heart is at the resting phase.

Blood pressure is represented in terms of a numerical value with the unit millimeters of mercury (mmHg). If you notice the blood pressure reading, there are two numbers that are written one upon the other. The numerator is the systolic number, while the denominator stands for the diastolic value. With this brief information, let's have a discussion about monitoring blood pressure and healthy blood pressure range.

The blood pressure of an individual tends to fluctuate based on the physical activities as well as the health condition of an individual. Considering this, regular monitoring of blood pressure is the only effective method to determine whether the blood pressure falls within the recommended healthy range or not. You can also refer to the blood pressure chart in order to examine the risk factors associated with abnormal blood pressure.

The standard healthy blood pressure range varies from one health organization to another. With reference to the World Health Organization (WHO), normal blood pressure is revealed as systolic value less than 140 and diastolic value below 90. As per Mayo Clinic, the healthy blood pressure levels for an adult over 20 years is systolic blood pressure falling between 90-120 and diastolic blood pressure reading between 60-80.

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), the optimal blood pressure is 120/80 mmHg. Nevertheless, blood pressure is considered normal, if the systolic pressure falls below 130 and diastolic pressure is less than 85. In simpler terms, a healthy blood pressure reading is the systolic value between 120-130 and the diastolic value between 80-85.

If the blood pressure reading continuously falls below systolic value - 90 mmHg and diastolic value - 60 mmHg, then it is considered low blood pressure (hypotension). On the contrary, blood pressure reading with a systolic value of more than 140 mmHg and diastolic value of more than 90 mmHg is referred to as high blood pressure or hypertension. There are various stages of hypertension depending upon the value of the blood pressure.

Both the cases of abnormal blood pressure (hypotension and hypertension) are the indications of certain health conditions. In fact most of the heart related chronic diseases are diagnosed based on the blood pressure readings. Though both low and high blood pressure pose certain health risks, the latter is of major concern. In the present day scenario, heart diseases caused due to hypertension are considered as the third leading killer worldwide.

Maintaining the blood pressure within healthy levels helps to prevent severe complications and improve the overall well-being of the individual. Lowering blood pressure to a healthy range can be achieved by administering medications and following healthy lifestyle habits.