Understanding your blood pressure

Blood pressure changes beat to beat, and small measuring slips add 4 to 20 points. Here's how much variation is normal and why averages matter most.

White coat hypertension means your blood pressure is high at the doctor's office but normal at home. A week of guided home readings, or a 24-hour monitor, is how you find out.

Stage 1 hypertension is 130 to 139 or 80 to 89. Stage 2 is 140 or higher or 90 or higher. If your two numbers disagree, the higher category wins.

Take two readings a minute apart, morning and evening, for about 7 days. Bring every number, the averages, your notes, and the cuff itself.

Pulse pressure is your top number minus your bottom number. MAP is the bottom number plus a third of that gap. Here's how to work out both, what the numbers mean, and how to average several readings.

A free 7-day blood pressure log you can print, laid out the way doctors ask for home readings: morning and evening, two readings each, averaged.

Orthostatic hypotension is a drop of 20+ systolic or 10+ diastolic within 3 minutes of standing. Here's how to check for it safely at home.

Blood pressure rises when you wake up, so a higher morning number is common. Here's what research says, how to measure both, and when a big gap matters.

The first reading often runs about 5 to 6 points higher systolic while your body adjusts to the cuff. That's why guidelines average two readings.

Elevated means a top number of 120 to 129 with a bottom under 80, so 125/75 counts. It isn't hypertension, and lifestyle change is the guideline's plan.

A cardiologist's checklist for picking a blood pressure app (measuring method, categories, doctor reports, privacy, cost), plus a fair comparison.

For adults, normal blood pressure is under 120/80 at every age. What rises with age is the typical reading. Here's the chart by age and sex, with CDC numbers.

Apple Watch can't give you a blood pressure reading. On supported models it can notify you of a possible hypertension pattern. Here's what that means and how to check your numbers properly.

The 2025 AHA/ACC guideline keeps the 130/80 line and the same four categories, adds the PREVENT risk calculator, and leans on home monitoring. Here's what changed.

Sit 5 minutes, back and arm supported, cuff on bare skin. Take two readings a minute apart, morning and evening, for 7 days, and average them.

Normal is under 120/80, Elevated is 120-129 over under 80, Stage 1 starts at 130 or 80, and Stage 2 at 140 or 90. Here's what each one means.