What Is “Normal” Blood Pressure? Why the Number Alone Is Not Enough
One of the most common questions patients ask in clinic sounds deceptively simple “Doctor, what is normal blood pressure?” Most people already expect the answer. Somewhere along the way they have heard the familiar number — 120 over 80. But after years of treating patients with hypertension, I have learned that the real answer is more nuanced than a single pair of numbers. Blood pressure is not a fixed label that permanently defines a person as “normal” or “abnormal.” It is a dynamic physiological signal, constantly adjusting to the needs of the body. And understanding this difference is the key to interpreting blood pressure correctly.