15 Things You Should Know About Blood Pressure

The newest science on how to keep your numbers at healthy levels.

- Peter Jaret 

When Dr. Raymond R. Townsend was in medical school in the 1970s, the formula for blood pressure was simple. “Doctors were taught that the normal top blood pressure number was 100 plus a person’s age,”says Townsend, a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “We now know that numbers even close to that high—as you get older—are very dangerous.” Research has come a long way, but there’s still controversy about optimal levels, the best treatments and even how to measure blood pressure.There’s no debate, however, that high blood pressure can lead to heart attacks, stroke, vision problems, even dementia. Here are 15 facts about high blood pressure that might save your life.

1. Blood pressure climbs as you age At age 76, Dr. Suzanne Oparil still has great blood pressure. “It’s mostly the luck of genes,” says Oparil, a professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, whose research has played a key role in hypertension guidelines. Like Oparil, some of us may never develop high blood pressure. But most people see an increase in the upper number, systolic blood pressure, starting around age 40. Hypertension is defined as blood pressure that is 140/90 or higher. Part of the reason: Arteries tend to stiffen with age.