While waiting for a prescription to be filled, Dan decides to measure his blood pressure using the automated machine in the pharmacy. His blood pressure reading is 140 over 92 millimeters of mercury. He knows he has a few pounds to lose but has never known his blood pressure. Before returning home he goes to a fast-food restaurant and enjoys a cheeseburger and fries. At home, Dan tells his wife, Tracy, about his findings and waits for her response. Let's see if you know as much as Tracy about the implications of blood pressure.

Dan has been working hard to eat a lower sodium diet, lose weight, and exercise. He goes back to the doctor 2 months later and his blood pressure is 130 over 85 millimeters of mercury. How would his blood pressure be categorized now?

After two months of following a lower sodium diet, exercising, and losing weight, Dan's blood pressure is now categorized as prehypertension pressure or high normal blood pressure since it is between 120 to 139 mmHg for the systolic pressure and 80 to 89 mmHg for the diastolic pressure. People in this category tend to have high blood pressure in the future due to an unhealthy lifestyle, as the one that Dan had, or due to malfunctioning of the kidneys or other illnesses.

In the past, Dan was a person with hypertension because his pressure was higher than 139 for the systolic and 89 for the diastolic, this was caused due to his bad lifestyle where he ate food with high quantities of sodium, had overweight and did not exercise.