Do you know your blood pressure reading and what the numbers mean?

It is important to understand if a reading is too low or too high to ensure any potential risks to your health can be treated. It is therefore advisable to have your blood pressure checked regularly.

Blood pressure readings
Your blood pressure should be under 140/90 mmHg.  Only one of the numbers has to be higher or lower than it should be to qualify as high or low blood pressure, for instance:

• if your top number is 140 or more – then you may have high blood pressure, regardless of your bottom number
• if your bottom number is 90 or more – then you may have high blood pressure, regardless your top number
• if your top number is 90 or less – then you may have low blood pressure, regardless of your bottom number
• if your bottom number is 60 or less – then you may have low blood pressure, regardless of your top number.

High blood pressure
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, means that your heart is having to work harder to pump blood around your body; your arteries become stiff and narrow and can become clogged with fatty material.

High blood pressure rarely has noticeable symptoms which is why it is important to have your readings taken regularly. Over five million adults in the UK have undiagnosed high blood pressure and so will not know that they are at risk.

Risks of high blood pressure
High blood pressure can lead to heart and circulatory diseases like heart attack or stroke. It can also cause kidney failure, heart failure, problems with your sight and vascular dementia.

In most cases, high blood pressure is caused by people’s diet, lifestyle or a medical condition. Drinking too much alcohol, not doing enough exercise, smoking, eating too much salt and being overweight can all increase your risk of getting high blood pressure.

As many of these risk factors are controllable, there are lots of things you can do to improve your lifestyle and lower your risk of high blood pressure such as quitting smoking, doing more exercise and eating healthier foods.

How to measure your blood pressure?
If you’re able to buy a blood pressure monitor you can take your reading at home. Otherwise, some pharmacies and GP surgeries will take your blood pressure for you.

Our team of practitioners always have a blood pressure monitor – next time you attend our site for an appointment or our practitioner is attending your workplace, ask them to take your blood pressure to make sure yours is a healthy reading.

Sources: Blood Pressure UK (2021, 2022); British Heart Foundation (2022); NHS (2022)