Almost half of all Americans have high blood pressure – a condition called hypertension.
Hypertension is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. However, it worsens: Hypertension also increases the risk of dementia and cognitive decline. And heart disease, stroke and dementia are the causes of the first, fourth and sixth leader death in the US, respectively. Unfortunately, only one of four people with high blood pressure has this condition.
2025 August The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology have published new guidelines for prevention and management of hypertension, based on a comprehensive literary analysis published over the last 10 years.
The conversation we asked by cardiologist dr. William Cornwell of Colorado University Anschutz Medical Town to explain what new guidelines mean and how you can work with your doctor to control your blood pressure.
Why did blood pressure guidelines change?
The latest guidelines against this new statement were 2017. Since then, the medical community has learned a lot about hypertension and the best way to control it. New guidelines provide a lot of new information.
First, the definition of hypertension has changed: the criteria are stricter and the target blood pressure is lower than in the past.
The criteria depend on the “systolic” and “diastolic” pressure values. Systolic blood pressure, the upper number, shows pressure in the blood vessels when the heart compresses the blood into the body. The diastolic blood pressure, the lower number, is the pressure of the blood vessels when the heart relaxes. Both numbers are important in determining the severity of hypertension and how it is best controlled.
The new guidelines eliminated the category of “prehi -cure”, defined by systolic pressure from 120 to 139 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) or diastolic pressure from 80 to 99 mm Hg. Patients are now assigned “high blood pressure” if their blood pressure is 120 to 129, less than 80 mm Hg, or stage 1 hypertension, if they are between 130 and 139/80 to 89.
Reading 140/90 or more is considered to be stage 2 hypertension, while 180/120 or higher is a hypertensive crisis. Basically, the tape has been reduced, and this change can affect millions of Americans.
People need to ask their doctors whether they have hypertension, taking into account these new criteria and whether they should be treated. It is also very important for patients to get advice from their doctors about lifestyle habits they can involve in their daily routine, such as diet, exercise and healthy sleep habits to reduce blood pressure.
In addition, the guidelines encourage service providers to use a risk calculator called prevention – in a brief prediction of cardiovascular events, to determine the overall risk of the patient’s cardiovascular disease and heart failure. This measure represents significant progress in personalizing medical care as it includes a person’s inherent risk factors that allow for the application of the method for medical care.
What is the relationship between alcohol consumption and high blood pressure?
These guidelines encourage people to limit alcohol consumption as alcohol increases blood pressure.
Seven studies with nearly 20,000 people meta -analysis, which contained nearly 20,000 people, showed that systolic blood pressure will increase by about 1 mm Hg every 10 grams of alcohol consumed. Standard beer contains about 14 grams of alcohol, so regular alcohol consumption can increase blood pressure by several points over time. For people who are constantly drinking too much alcohol but later stop drinking, their blood pressure may return.
It may not seem like a lot of influence, but when combined with other unhealthy and risky behavior such as sedentary behavior, excessive weight, poor sleep, psychological stress and smoking, risk factors begin to strengthen quickly. At the same time, they can very quickly increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and dementia.
New guidelines encourage patients to reduce or eliminate alcohol consumption completelycompared to old guidelines. For people who want to drink alcohol, new guidelines are advised that men should drink no more than two drinks a day and women should drink no more than one drink per day.
What other lifestyle factors have the new report focused on?
The new guidelines also emphasize that a diet can have a major influence on blood pressure. They recommend consuming less than 2,300 milligrams of salt or about 1 teaspoon per day with or without hypertension – with or without hypertension, and ideally less than 1,500 milligrams a day. By comparison, the average American eats more than 3,300 milligrams of salt per day. Patients may also consider potassium -based salt substitutes to further reduce blood pressure.
The guidelines recommend a specific diet called a Dash diet, in short, to stop hypertension, in patients with or without hypertension to prevent high blood pressure or treatment. Dash Diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables, low -fat or non -fat dairy products and whole grains. This diet can reduce blood pressure by about 10 mm Hg.
The guidelines also emphasize the need to increase physical activity. On average, each additional 30 minutes of aerobic exercises receive a person per week, systolic blood pressure decreases by 2 mm Hg, and diastolic blood pressure decreases by 1 mm Hg and the maximum decrease in 150 minutes of dynamic exercise per week.
Regular exercise also helps to live longer and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and dementia.
What are the main preventive strategy report?
There are several factors, including demographic, cholesterol, medical history and blood pressure to prevent the risk calculator recommended in new guidelines, to determine the risk. This risk calculator is free and accessible to the general public, and it can be a useful tool for all Americans as it provides patients and providers to assess the overall risk assessment. But that Especially It is useful for people with many chronic diseases such as hypertension, high cholesterol, overweight/obesity or diabetes.
The American Heart Association recommends eight essential health treatment to control blood pressure and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease: it includes a healthy diet, regular exercise, stopping or avoiding smoking, sleeping seven – nine hours a night and controlling weight, cholesterol, blood and blood pressure.
Will new guidelines change how doctors will decide high blood pressure?
One of the greatest achievements of these new guidelines is the personalized approach to medical care using a Prevent Scalled Calculator.
It is recommended that doctors encourage their patients to test their blood pressure at home to better understand the all -day pressure fluctuations.
Finally, the guidelines encourage doctors to be more aggressive in the treatment of blood pressure. This can be an important change as uncontrolled blood pressure is a major risk factor associated with heart disease and stroke.
William Cornwell is a professor of cardiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz University of Colorado.
This article has been published from a conversation under the Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The recording of what to know about the new high blood pressure guidelines was first appeared at Katie Couric Media.