Just like when the recommendation was changed to keep the top number less than 130 some 20 years ago, this recommendation is based on data showing that lower B/P really does have benefit in reducing heart damage, kidney damage, and stroke.

Way back when, it was believed that higher B/P with every decade of life was natural. Lack of aggressive treatment (and there were only about 3 meds to treat high B/P then anyway) may have had a lot to do with why so many Americans died in their 50s and 60s back then. That, and the really poor diet that had become standard in that era.

I saw the news brief last night and agree, they did say relatively few of those who fall into the new hypertensive category will need medication. They hope that many will be able to address it through lifestyle changes. I'm still in the good range. DH will generally be approx. 120/80. Or 81. I hate to nag at him to lose that extra 10 #s, and he's already fit and active. He'll have a physical in another month or so, I suppose see what his doctor says.

My new doctor would like to take me off my BP med, with my BP at 130/"something", can't remember. I've taken Cardizem for 15 years. He says that's way too long esp. for this type of BP med. Anyway now as others report I see that the top number of 130 isn't so acceptable anymore. I wonder what my doctor will say this Friday when I go for my check up.

I'm all for the new guidelines. At work today at the dental school I had to show a student how to take a BP and was relieved that it fell within the new guidelines. It is a difficult discussion to have in a dental setting, but we do it because we see people who might have undiagnosed hypertension.

My husband had a minor stroke earlier this year - a brain bleed, that they think was probably caused by high blood pressure. He has been taking BP meds for years, and it was "controlled" but now the doctor wants his BP to be "perfect".

We've had a treadmill for years that he had used sporadically, but since his incident he has been on in for an hour every morning, except when he is out of town. I have also encouraged him to drink more water, and he has really cut the sodium from his diet.

I wonder how many people will take the recommended lifestyle changes to heart. For some reason I don't think a lot of people will be inspired to exercise, lose weight and eat a sodium restricted diet because they are told they have this early stage hypertension. Or quit smoking or cut down on alcohol consumption.

It all sounds good but I do wonder just how much of an impact it will have on people who really need to make those difficult changes. Certainly won't hurt as long as people don't pressure their docs for meds instead of lifestyle changes. And I guess that probably wouldn't cause much harm either.

Healthy living just doesn't do it with HTN with some people. For some unknown reason some people have it and some don't. By all rights I should have HTN, but in fact it is on the low side. I'm over weight, salt my food before even tasting it, love my red meat and smoke. The same with elevated cholesterol . That I have, but even when I was the ideal weight, ate correctly and exercised I had it.

3katz4me, I hate to be pessimistic, but based on the lack of motivation that I see in people with diabetes (at least, the ones that land in my ICU) I don't hold a lot of hope for self-management.

Sounds like the new #s are to encourage an earlier, non-medical approach to controlling BP. I'm all for that.

I think this is mostly getting a lot of press that might cause a small % of people to pay more attention to their blood pressure. Otherwise I think it's much to do about something that will have little impact on anyone.

Some people just have hereditary high blood pressure and lifestyle changes don't do much. So the focus on lifestyle changes can backfire if it results in a doctor delaying medication in a situation where medication is what is called for. (My mom had a textbook perfect lifestyle when she was diagnosed with high blood pressure in her 20s. Guess who also has high blood pressure? Her mom, her sister, and guess what happened when I hit mid-20s? Yup.) Luckily my doctor at the time was my mom's GP also, so knew her history very well, so he didn't bother arguing with me about what my sodium intake was like or anything along those lines.