When people visit their doctors, the first thing that a nurse or doctor may do is get your blood pressure level. While many people find this irrelevant, especially if they have no history of high blood pressure, getting your blood pressure checked regularly is important. However, you should know how to interpret your blood pressure readings, so that when you check it on your own, you'll know when to go to the doctor.

There are two numbers in a blood pressure reading - one is for systolic pressure (the force of blood placed on the arteries whenever your heart beats) and the other is for diastolic (the force of blood in between heartbeats). Blood pressure levels may change based on your current activity. As such, different levels of blood pressure mean different things. A doctor can easily know if you're healthy or not after looking at your blood pressure readings, but most patients don't fully understand these numbers. If you have a blood pressure monitor at home or you're planning to buy one, here's a quick guide of the blood pressure levels:

Normal - systolic pressure of 120 or less and diastolic pressure of 80 or less
Pre-hypertension - systolic pressure of 120 to 139 and diastolic pressure of 80 to 89
Hypertension stage 1 - systolic pressure of 140 to 150 and diastolic pressure of 90 to 99
Hypertension stage 2 - systolic pressure of 160 or higher and diastolic pressure of 100 or higher

If a doctor finds out you have high blood pressure, it's likely that he'll require you to buy a home-monitoring device so you could keep your blood pressure in check. However, checking your blood pressure levels would not cure this condition; you need to make several changes to your lifestyle while taking doctor-prescribed medications. Such lifestyle changes may include regular exercise and diet changes involving plenty of nuts, vegetables and fruits as well as keeping your sodium intake low.

As long as you understand your blood pressure levels and be able to know if it's on a healthy range or not, you can avoid other health problems caused by high blood pressure. Adults should have their blood pressure checked at least once in two years.

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