CNN – The next time you get your blood pressure checked, expect your medical provider to be a bit more aggressive about high levels.
And if you like a glass of wine with dinner or a cocktail on the weekends, brace yourself: New guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology released Thursday suggest you abstain.
Committees from the heart organizations continuously assess the latest research so they can help medical providers figure out the best approach to high blood pressure, but this is the first new set of guidelines since 2017.
Heart disease has long been the No. 1 killer in the world and blood pressure is one of the most easily modifiable ways to avoid such a death. Keeping your blood pressure in check can also reduce your risk of kidney disease, type 2 diabetes and dementia.
Nearly half of all adults in the US have higher than normal blood pressure. The goal numbers for adults haven’t changed, according to the guidelines: Normal blood pressure is less than 120/80 mm Hg, elevated blood pressure is 120-129/80 mm Hg.
If you are at 130/80 mmHg or higher, according to the new guidelines, your medical provider will want you to make some changes.
How high blood pressure is treated
The new blood pressure guidelines say that if your systolic blood pressure is in the 130 to 139 range, your medical provider should first encourage you to adopt healthy lifestyle changes.
After three to six months, if the lifestyle changes alone don’t lower your blood pressure to the goal range, then medication is recommended, the new guidelines say. That’s a shift from 2017 recommendation that anyone with systolic blood pressure above 140 should be prescribed lifestyle changes and medication.
“So just trying to more aggressively control blood pressure, for it to be better for more people, to prevent cardiovascular disease, strokes, kidney disease, and now we know lowering blood pressure actually helps reduce the risk for dementia as well. So that’s really big news out of this guideline” …
