It’s lowest when you sleep but rises when you’re active, excited, or stressed out. Your blood pressure fluctuates throughout the day. What Is Normal Blood Pressure for Senior Citizens? Ambulatory blood pressure monitors are also used in these situations. If your doctor suspects it, they will instruct you to measure your blood pressure multiple times at home and return with the findings. You’ve probably heard of this-it’s called white coat hypertension. There’s another thing that can influence the readings: some people feel anxious in a clinical setting and have elevated blood pressure only in the doctor’s office.
Not smoke or drink coffee for 30 minutes beforehand.Sit upright with their feet on the ground.What does that mean? For the most accurate readings of high blood pressure in elderly people, the patients should: Second, the person has to be adequately prepared. First of all, they have to be performed multiple times before making a definitive diagnosis. And, of course, there’s the good old blood pressure cuff and stethoscope.Įven more important than the device you use is the way you take the measurements. There are special devices called ambulatory blood pressure monitors that record your blood pressure for the entire day and give the most accurate readings, but they’re more expensive, and they aren’t the standard practice yet. Namely, a low pulse rate may indicate a problem with the heart’s electrical conduction pathway. Additionally, low pulse rate and high blood pressure in the elderly are possible, especially if one’s hypertension is chronic. What is the normal pulse rate for an elderly person? Regular heart rate varies from person to person, but a normal range for adults is 60 to 100 beats per minute. You can use it yourself, and it’s relatively accurate but not the most sensitive device out there. There are a few ways to measure blood pressure, the simplest being with an electronic sensor that goes around your wrist.
If you want to know how to control high blood pressure in old age, or in fact, any age, the first step is measuring it. You could be having a hypertensive crisis that requires urgent treatment because it can lead to a heart attack or stroke. If you have any of these symptoms, you must see a doctor immediately. The symptoms of extreme hypertension can include: When it comes to high blood pressure in the elderly, symptoms start to appear only at dangerously high levels. It’s recommended for people over the age of 21 to keep track of their blood pressure, and even more so for seniors. Therefore, if you regularly visit your doctor’s office, high blood pressure won’t be left undiagnosed. Often, the only way to diagnose it is by taking proper blood pressure measurements.įortunately, as you know, this is very simple, and it is one of the first things your doctor does when performing a physical exam. As much as one-third of people who have high blood pressure don’t know that they have it. And it involves high blood pressure in the elderly, usually showing no symptoms. There is a big problem we need to mention here. Signs and Symptoms of Hypertension in the Elderly Systolic pressure is higher because it’s measured when the heart contracts (beats), while diastolic pressure is measured when the heart relaxes between beats. However, it is not a fraction, but two numbers, one over the other, representing systolic pressure (the upper number) and diastolic pressure (the lower number). If you take a look at an elderly blood pressure chart, you can see that blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and presented in the form of a fraction. What Is Blood Pressure?Įssentially, blood pressure is the force that blood creates by pushing against the walls of the blood vessels on its way through the body. Furthermore, it may actually protect the brain from dementia. This somewhat controversial new approach has shown that elevated blood pressure may indicate preserved heart function. What is considered high blood pressure in the elderly? Recent studies have suggested that slightly higher than normal blood pressure in seniors has a protective effect. According to many doctors, prompt diagnosis and aggressive treatment for lowering blood pressure to normal levels are the right approaches. It’s dubbed “the silent killer” because it presents no symptoms for a long time until it’s too late to reverse its effects on vital organs. We can all agree that high blood pressure in elderly people (hypertension) is a condition that has to be treated.