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Understanding Your Blood Pressure Numbers
130 over 80. 150 over 90. You may have heard your doctor describe blood pressure numbers this way. At first, it may not be easy to understand what the numbers mean or to remember them. That’s okay. Ask your doctor to help you figure out which numbers are high or low and what your blood pressure goal should be.
Understanding your numbers
Blood pressure is always given as 2 numbers. For example, 130/80 (and read as: 130 over 80).
The chart below shows you:
- High blood pressure numbers
- Numbers that mean a person is at risk for high blood pressure (called prehypertension)
- Normal blood pressure numbers for adults
| Blood pressure levels* | Top number: systolic (the pressure when the heart beats while pumping blood) |
Bottom number: diastolic (the pressure when the heart is at rest between beats) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure, stage 2 (moderate to severe) | 160 or higher | OR | 100 or higher |
| High blood pressure, stage 1 (mild) | 140 to 159 | OR | 90 to 99 |
| At risk for high blood pressure | 120 to 139 | OR | 80 to 89 |
| Normal | Less than 120 | AND | Less than 80 |
*Based upon guidelines from the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure.
Quick Quiz
Numbers show your progress
Your blood pressure numbers can show if your treatment plan is helping you close in on your goal.
