It is relatively easy to determine, and high blood pressure, or hypertension , is treatable. What it measures is the pressure that your blood is exerting on the walls of your veins and arteries. The first number is called the systolic and measures the pressure when your heart is actually pumping. The second number is called the diastolic and measures the pressure between beats of your heart. Any systolic number below 140 is considered normal for an adult, as is any diastolic number below 90.
Individual cases are of course different.
The problem with blood pressure arises because the heart has to work much harder to pump blood through the veins and arteries when blood pressure is high. But perhaps the most dangerous part of high blood pressure is that most people with high blood pressure have no symptoms at all. The only way to determine if you have high blood pressure is to visit a doctor or clinic and have it checked. Should you find that you do have high blood pressure, there are a great many things you can do to help it. Of course the first thing you should do is sit down and discuss your particular situation with your cardiologist.