I have a question regarding blood pressure I was hoping you could shed some light on. What is considered a normal blood pressure when you’re going about your day to day business? I know this answer can vary wildly based on activity but is there a number or range that is considered normal while you’re up and ambulatory, moving around your house, walking around the grocery store, etc? As I understand it, normal blood pressure is anything under 120/80, but since blood pressure is supposed to be measured while you’ve been still and quiet for several minutes, it seems that 120/80 when you’re up and walking around might not apply.
Cutoffs for “normal” blood pressure on ambulatory blood pressure monitoring remain an area of debate.
A (somewhat dated, at this point) meta-analysis of 23 studies found that among non-hypertensive individuals, “the 24-hour BP averaged 118/72 mm Hg, the daytime BP 123/76 mm Hg, and the nighttime BP 106/64 mm Hg.” Here are some clinical guidelines on the use and interpretation of ABPM.
With this all said, these numbers are specific to ambulatory blood pressure monitoring as a specific diagnostic method; you should not be taking individual measurements of your blood pressure while active and attempting to interpret them, as it will be essentially useless.