What is normal blood pressure?

This article will answer the question what is normal blood pressure. Here goes.

The answer

There is no such thing as ‘normal blood pressure’. But for most adults there is a normal range between 110/70 and 140/90 mmHg.

“130/80 is a good average target for most patients, and 120/70 if you have diabetes.”

For most people, high blood pressure (BP) is ‘silent’, i.e. you cannot ‘feel’ whether it is high or low.

Is BP constant through the day?

No. Your blood pressure varies minute and minute, and hour by hour. For example, blood pressure follows a circadian rhythm;.

It increases on waking in the morning and decreases during sleeping at night (called ‘nocturnal dipping’). This is why it is important not to make a decision on a single reading of BP. Several measurements are required.

Circadian rhythm of BP

How is blood pressure affected by age, gender and ethnicity?

As you can see from these graphs for the USA, age, gender and ethnicity all affect blood pressure, in the following ways:

Age. Blood pressure goes up as you get older – e.g.
– 110/70 is normal if you are 20 years
– 150/80 is normal if you are 80 years
– Pulse pressure (the gap between systolic and diastolic blood pressure) gets wider as you age. It can be 40 mmHg at 20 years, and 80 mmHg at 80 years
Gender. Men have higher blood pressure than women
Ethnicity. Black people have higher blood pressure than white people.

Implication

It is important to have different blood pressure targets for people of different ages, gender and ethnicities.

Summary

We have answered the question what is a normal blood pressure. There is no such thing as normal blood pressure. It is affected by time of day, age, gender and ethnicity.

Other resources

CKDEx has more information: what is blood pressure and 10 blood pressure facts.

Last Reviewed on 29 January 2024