The baseline for normal blood pressure is 120/80, this can fluctuate a few points here or there, but we need to start from some place.

Prehypertension is rated from 121/139 and 81/89. After this you enter a stage 1 hypertension alert.

Now here's the kicker, prehypertension doesn't have any symptoms, but it can lead into hypertension or more commonly know as high blood pressure. The only way to monitor this condition is to do just that, monitor.

The unanimous suggestion is to buy an affordable home HBP device and track your blood pressure. Take readings at different times of the day to get a baseline for each 24 hour cycle. Of course your blood pressure will vary depending on stress, relaxation and body cycles.

If you see constant levels of prehypertension readings it's best to consult with your doctor. In a prehypertension stage it's easier to make small changes to affect your blood pressure. If you let this progress into a stage 1 or 2 hypertension problem it's very possible drugs will be needed to reduce the pressure. This is a situation that can be avoided easily with some precautionary measures.

There are good reasons for monitoring your blood pressure if you feel at risk. The complications that arise from hypertension are more damaging than hypertension itself. The pressure put on your arterial walls cause heart problems, kidney problems, strokes and much more.

You can point the finger at many things when looking for prehypertension causes. It can be stress, diet, lack of exercise, toxins, fats, processed foods, chemicals in the water and the list goes on. One area of note is sleep.

Lack of sleep can create a slew of problems including hypertension. Sleep is a time when your body repairs itself. There is a chemical called Melatonin that does some pretty cool things for you. If your sleep is Poor Sleep, meaning disrupted by noise or frequent bathroom trips, then this melatonin can't do it's job.

You can easily slip into a prehypertension condition when you lack good sleep. People working swing or night shifts tend to have more hypertension problems because their biological clock is off balance.

It's easy to ignore the sleep factor as a cause for high blood pressure because we gradually get use to less sleep. This is not the way nature designed us, and you know what happens when you mess with Mother Nature.

There are melatonin supplements that help you sleep better especially if you work odd shifts. The only side effect to melatonin is vivid dreams. For some reason the only negative effect, if you can call it that, is dreams of intense situations. What this really means is more dreams and dreams that extract emotions. This can be good or bad depending on what the person is exposed to.

Many of the prehypertension causes can be corrected before it becomes a stage 1 problem.

Lets make a mention about medications. Birth control pills, cold remedies, decongestants, over-the-counter pain relievers and some prescription drugs — also may cause prehypertension. Illicit drugs, such as cocaine and amphetamines, can have the same effect.

Generally, a combination of these causes over a period of time put a person into the category of prehypertension. Some of these things you know are harmful and some have just become bad habits. Whatever the case, this is preventable and does not need to progress if you take the right precautions.