--- ---  # High Blood Pressure Treatment Should Be More Aggressive, Study Finds ## Video: New York City's Latest Food Battle: Salt [Watch (HLS stream): New York City's Latest Food Battle: Salt](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IdPoU7xh.m3u8) (2:00)  _Published 2015-06-10. The New York City health department is expected to propose that restaurants label high sodium dishes on menus._ by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Sep 11, 2015 4:11 PM UTC  Sphygmomanometer, blood pressure gauge Sphygmomanometer, blood pressure gaugeGetty Images by [Victor Luckerson](https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Sep 11, 2015 4:11 PM UTC People who suffer from high blood pressure should be attempting to lower their blood pressure well below current benchmarks, according to [a new study](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/12/health/blood-pressure-study.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news). The study by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute found that patients who reached a systolic blood pressure below 120 saw their risk of heart attacks and strokes lowered by a third, while their risk of death was lowered by about one-fourth. Currently people with high blood pressure typically take drugs to lower their systolic blood pressure to 140, or 150 for people over 60\. The institute announced the results Friday, even though the study wasn’t scheduled to be published until 2017, because the data is of such importance to public health. Blood pressure experts expect guidelines to be changed due to the study, leading people to take medication that will push their blood pressure even lower. Some worry that increased use of blood pressure medicine could cause additional worrisome side effects. \[[_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/12/health/blood-pressure-study.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news)\] High Blood Pressure Should Be Lowered Even More, Study Finds ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4031251/high-blood-pressure-treatment-study/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4031251/high-blood-pressure-treatment-study/"},"headline":"High Blood Pressure Treatment Should Be More Aggressive, Study Finds","datePublished":"2015-09-11T16:11:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:57:51.176Z","description":"Lowering blood pressure more could further reduce risk of heart attacks","url":"https://time.com/4031251/high-blood-pressure-treatment-study/","keywords":["Public Health","Heart Disease","Blood Pressure","Stroke","hypertension","high blood pressure","heart health"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f91026b23dc36e8/6988634a5f570f0e15b1d54e/blood-pressure.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Victor Luckerson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2f91026b23dc36e8/6988634a5f570f0e15b1d54e/blood-pressure.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Blood Pressure","caption":"Blood Pressure","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4031251/high-blood-pressure-treatment-study/","name":"High Blood Pressure Treatment Should Be More Aggressive, Study Finds"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"New York City's Latest Food Battle: Salt","description":"The New York City health department is expected to propose that restaurants label high sodium dishes on menus.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/IdPoU7xh/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-10T14:16:39.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IdPoU7xh.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4031251/high-blood-pressure-treatment-study/","duration":"PT2M","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4031251/high-blood-pressure-treatment-study/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```