High blood pressure, which is also known professionally as hypertension, is a condition where the pressure of the blood coursing through your arteries is considerably higher than normal. Most medical professionals will state that the beginning point for individuals over eighteen years of age is 120/80. However, there are causes that could make those numbers not normal. Age is one of them.

The first figure is the systolic arterial blood pressure, which means that it is the pressure read when your heart contracts, beats or pumps out blood. The second number is while the heart sucks in blood, ready to pump it out again.

These statistics are given in millimetres of mercury and are written as mmHg. Higher readings of either of these figures can indicate a difficulty. One thing to make patent here is that it is impossible to guess or estimate the pressure of your blood without using either a sphygmomanometer ( the one your physician uses in the surgery), which is the gold standard for blood pressure monitoring devices or a home blood monitoring machine.

Blood pressure can become affected by numerous things such as: time of the day, age, weight, height, mood, fitness, diet, degree of activity and stress, which may or may not be part of ‘white coat syndrome’ amongst others. ‘White coat syndrome’ is the anxiety experienced by some people while they have to be examined by a physician. This applies to children more than to any other age group.

Blood pressure also varies during the day, so in order to get an accurate reading, it is necessary to take several all at the same time of day. It is also wise to wait 45 minutes after drinking caffeine or ten minutes after arriving before taking a reading.

So, what is standard? The real answer, although it is maddening, is that only a GP can tell you, however for an adult, they say that it is 120/80, for an adolescent it is 110/70 and for an infant it is 80/45.

However, when measuring and evaluating the blood pressure of adolescents, you have to keep in mind that age, sex and height matter. Therefore, an adolescent is said to have high blood pressure if the blood pressure is over that of ninety percent of individuals of his/her age, gender and height.

The causes of hypertension are classed as primary or secondary. Primary means that it is all your body’s fault and secondary means that the cause is something else, say, medication. Hypertension can also be the result of race or other hereditary reasons. Males of African descent are especially at risk.

One of the items you can buy to keep you knowledgeable about your family’s blood pressure worries is a home blood pressure monitor. These devices are quite cheap and are very accurate, so buy an automatic digital monitor but take it to your doctor to be certain that it is accurate and ask for the readings that are pertinent to all the members of your family.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on several of subjects, but is currently involved with work on the cause of high blood pressure. If you want to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our website at High Blood Pressure Recipes.