Hypertension or high blood pressure refers to the condition in which the blood is pumped around the body at too high a pressure.

Blood Pressure (BP) is described by two numbers, for example, if your BP is 120/80, the systolic BP is 120mmHg and the diastolic BP is 80mmHg.

You have hypertension if your systolic BP is 140mmHg or more, or your diastolic BP is 90mmHg or more, or both (mmHg is “millimetres of mercury”, a measure of pressure).