Understanding the stages of hypertension

There are various stages of hypertension. Also, there are some different factors that can cause a temporary increase in your blood pressure, like stress and anxiety, for example. Well, most of us can feel anxious and with much stress at some point in our lives. This is why we can't say that someone has hypertension if the first reading says, for example, that your blood pressure is between 140-159/90-99 mm Hg.  Because of this, your doctor can't diagnose hypertension if your reading is between 140-159/90-99 mm Hg for the first time. After the first visit to your doctor, it will be necessary to make two or more readings before a diagnosis of hypertension can be done.

Blood pressure is defined by different range of values. Let's see:

• if your blood  pressure is lower than 120/80 mm Hg, then it is considered normal.

• If your blood pressure is between 120-129/80-89 mm Hg, then it is considered as pre-hypertension. At this stage you should monitor it more often. Remember that you can have pre-hypertension, even if you don't feel any specific symptom.

• if your blood pressure is between 140-159/90-99, then this means that this is classified as primary hypertension, or also called stage 1  hypertension.

• if your blood pressure is between 160-179/100-109, then this is classified as secondary hypertension, or also called "stage 2" hypertension.