Normal Blood Pressure for Men Over 50

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Age is one of unchangeable risk factors of hypertension. In other words, your risk increases as you get older. This is also one of key answers for why high blood pressure is relatively more common in elderly people. The age of over 50 is one of the most common age-range groups where hypertension is pretty common to be found. And if you are over age 50, it’s important to carefully monitor your systolic and diastolic pressures.

Normal and abnormal levels of blood pressure

The level of your blood pressure is commonly given in mm Hg. And you will find two numbers from a sphygmomanometer (a common medical tool used to measure blood pressure); systolic and diastolic pressure.

Typically, systolic pressure is higher than diastolic pressure because it describes the pressure against your artery walls when your heart is beating. And for diastolic pressure, it is usually lower than your systolic number since it is the pressure from force of blood against the artery walls between beats of your heart (when your heart is not contracting).

The levels of blood pressure are commonly categorized into 4 major groups: normal, pre-hypertension, stage I and stage II hypertension. In general, the normal levels range from 115 /75 to 120 /80 mm Hg.

For in-depth information about these issues, visit this helpful guide!

Normal and abnormal blood pressure levels for men over 50

If you are over 50, the recommendation of how far you should keep your blood pressure off is usually closely dependent on certain health conditions that you have.

According to an article published on the official site of the Department of Health and Human Services, the level of blood pressure that is higher than 140/90 mm Hg (140 for systolic pressure and 90 for diastolic pressure) in men over 50 can be categorized into hypertension.

So, make sure to control the systolic and diastolic numbers lower than 140 /90! However, your doctor may ask you to keep your blood pressure much lower than 140 /90 if you have certain health problem. For more advice, talk with your doctor!

Update: New guidelines from most Health Organizations (including AHA, the American Heart Association) announced that 130/80 mm HG is now categorized into hypertension for all adults younger than age 65 [source]. This suggests, there would be more men over 50 categorized as having hypertension.

Lifestyles changes are crucial

Depending on your own fit status, your doctor may prescribe certain medicines for hypertension to eliminate the risk of complications due to uncontrolled high blood pressure.

Along with these prescribed medicines, the following are some common guidelines on how to make you systolic and diastolic pressures stay on the recommended safely levels.

  1. Doing moderate exercise regularly! We all agree that we will lots of health benefits from regular exercises. One of these benefits is to improve the blood flow in your body. Regular exercise can help lower LDL (bad cholesterol) and reduce the pressure against the artery walls. For more ideas with exercise to lower your systolic and diastolic pressures, visit this section!
  2. Try DASH diet – DASH itself stands for “Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension”. In general, this kind of diet recommends eating more whole foods, high in fiber, getting plenty of dietary potassium and vitamin D, low in salt, and low in saturated fats. Here is a complete guide for foods that your should eat and avoid to lower cholesterol and prevent hypertension.
  3. Stress management. Although the effect of stress in increasing your systolic and diastolic pressures is temporary. But it can cause a rapid increase in your blood pressure. Overall, having more episodes of stress can be very bad for your cardiovascular system. Stress may be inevitable condition, but you can control and manage it!
  4. Weight control. More pounds of fats you gain, more likely you have hypertension.
  5. Avoid smoking or even secondhand smoking! Chewing tobacco can harm your artery walls.
  6. Get plenty of sleep and rest. Don’t push your body too much at workplace!
  7. Drink alcohol in moderation! Men are more likely to drink it excessively than women. Make sure you drink it not more than 2 drinks a day. And if you doctor recommends avoiding it due to certain reasons, then follow the recommendation!

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2 Comments
  1. Farouk Umar Saad
    August 13, 2017 | Reply
    • August 16, 2017 | Reply

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