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Introduction to Hypertension	Causes of High Blood Pressure
Categories for Blood Pressure Levels in Adults	Risks for High Blood Pressure
Tips for Having Your Blood Pressure Taken	Conventional Treatments for Hypertension
Isolated Systolic Hypertension (ISH)	Common Sense Recommendations for Hypertension
Symptoms of Hypertension	Life Style Changes for Hypertension
Consequences of Untreated High Blood Pressure	Food/Diet Therapy for Hypertension
Exercises for managing Hypertension	Alternative and Complementary Medicine for Hypertension

Categories for Blood Pressure Levels in Adults

Categories for Blood Pressure Levels in Adults *
(Ages 18 Years and Older)

Category	Systolic	Diastolic
	Blood Pressure Level (mm Hg)
Optimal**	< 120	< 80
Normal	< 130	< 85
High Normal	130–139	85–89
High Blood Pressure
Stage 1	140–159	90–99
Stage 2	160–179	100–109
Stage 3	=> 180	=>110
* For those not taking medicine for high blood pressure and not having a short-term serious illness. These categories are from the National High Blood Pressure Education Program. ** Optimal blood pressure with respect to heart disease risk is below 120/80 mm Hg. However, unusually low readings should be evaluated for clinical significance.

When systolic and diastolic blood pressures fall into different categories, the higher category should be used to classify blood pressure level. For example, 160/80 mm Hg would be stage 2 hypertension (high blood pressure).