As people age, some believe that moderately high blood pressure is needed for the heart to pump blood efficiently throughout the body and maintain health. According to claims spreading on YouTube health channels, taking medication to forcibly lower blood pressure can restrict blood flow and harm overall health. These claims specifically warn that lowering blood pressure could damage the brain, which sits above the heart, and increase the risk of dementia. But are these popular beliefs really true?

“The idea that blood pressure needs to be high is truly an outdated notion,” said Professor Kang Si-hyuck of the Department of Cardiology at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital on the hospital’s official YouTube channel.

Professor Kang explained that in the 1930s, there were few ways to lower blood pressure, and medical textbooks at the time stated, “The greatest danger for a hypertensive patient is becoming aware that their blood pressure is high. Why? Because they would then make futile efforts to lower it." But Kang stressed that this is no longer the case today.

“In the past, since there were few ways to control blood pressure, it was considered natural for blood pressure to rise with age. Using medication, surgery, or procedures was actually seen as more dangerous,” Professor Kang noted. As a result, many people with hypertension died from complications such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, he pointed out.

Professor Kang added that even Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin—leaders who dominated the world stage at the end of World War II—were no exception. "President Roosevelt had extremely high blood pressure. After being elected for his final term, he lived for several years with a reading of 200 mmHg. Today, no one lives with such a reading. Roosevelt kept going until he suddenly collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage.”

A few years later, Stalin was found dead alone in his room. While there were rumors he had been poisoned, the autopsy confirmed a cerebral hemorrhage. Churchill lived the longest, but he died after repeated cerebral infarctions. Even the world’s most powerful leaders died from complications of hypertension, Kang said.

The actual danger of hypertension has already been proven through research. The SPRINT Trial, which prompted changes to current hypertension treatment standards, clearly demonstrates this, he explained.

“This study compared whether to target blood pressure below 140 mmHg or below 120 mmHg. It showed a 25 percent reduction in cardiovascular events in the group targeting below 120 mmHg. Following this study, the U.S. changed its hypertension guidelines, and it became the catalyst for Europe and Korea to revise theirs as well,” he said.

While some YouTube channels claim this research was funded and manipulated by pharmaceutical companies, this is untrue. Professor Kang emphasized, “The SPRINT study was sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. It was conducted without any funding from pharmaceutical companies.”

In recent years, many hypertension studies have been funded by private organizations rather than governments or drug companies. Much of today’s evidence comes from these studies, Kang explained. As a result, more and more research is being published showing that lowering blood pressure through lifestyle changes and medication benefits hypertensive patients.

“Analyzing 290,000 Koreans not taking blood pressure medication showed that the higher the blood pressure, the higher the incidence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease,” he said. He added that this relationship is not linear but quadratic, meaning the risk doubles, quadruples, or even increases eightfold with each rise in blood pressure.

He continued, “This study shows that systolic pressure of 115 mmHg and diastolic pressure of 75 mmHg are the tipping points. The risk of cardiovascular disease rises once blood pressure exceeds 115/75 mmHg. That’s why we define normal blood pressure as 120/80 mmHg.”

There is also talk that blood pressure medication suppresses normal physiological functions, a claim seemingly supported by drug names like “calcium channel blockers” and “angiotensin inhibitors.” The suggestion is that blocking normal processes causes side effects such as feeling dazed, lethargic, and dizzy.

However, is this true? Definitely not.

“When you first start blood pressure medication, it’s natural to feel discomfort. For example, if someone with a reading of 160 mmHg takes medication and it drops to 130–140 mmHg, the amount of blood flowing to the head decreases, and the blood pressure reaching the muscles throughout the body lowers. So, some discomfort is inevitable at first. But these symptoms usually disappear within a week, or at most a month,” Kang explained.

He continued, “Many people actually feel better once their bodies adapt to the new pressure. Blood pressure medication works on the body’s physiological mechanisms. Since these mechanisms are abnormally elevated in hypertensive patients, the medication blocks those pathways to bring blood pressure back to normal.”

Professor Kang emphasized that blood pressure medication does not block normal physiological functions but rather corrects abnormal processes already occurring in the body.