Prehypertension is when your blood pressure rises above the range that is considered healthy. The higher your blood pressure, the harder your heart has to work to pump blood through your blood vessels. Over time, this will cause your heart to enlarge and put you at a greater risk for health problems such as stroke, heart disease and heart failure.
If your blood pressure puts you in the prehypertensive range (between 120/80 and 139/89) you should start to make some lifestyle adjustments. If left unchecked, prehypertension can lead to hypertension. Hypertension directly causes about 50,000 deaths in the United States each year and is a factor in even more.1
According to an article published in JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association), nearly 70 million Americans are prehypertensive, and many of them do not even know it.2 Ask your doctor to check your blood pressure at your next checkup. A simple test could help prevent future health problems. Fill out our checklist to see if you are at risk for prehypertension.
Generally, hypertension and prehypertension have no symptoms. That's why it is so important to get your blood pressure checked regularly. When you get your blood pressure reading, compare it with the numbers in the chart below. Systolic pressure, the top number on your reading, is the pressure when your heart pumps blood out. Diastolic pressure, the bottom number on your reading, is the pressure when your heart relaxes and blood flows in. If either one of these readings is above normal, you should be concerned. Ask your doctor what you can do to bring your blood pressure back into a healthy range.
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1 High Blood Pressure Statistics. American Heart Association Web site. Accessed December 5, 2006.
2 Mitka M. Experts ponder treating prehypertension. JAMA 2006 May 10;295(18):2125-2126.
3 National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; AP.
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