If you’re at the doctor’s office, you’re likely already anxious. Your pulse rate may be 5 to 10 beats per minute higher, and your systolic blood pressure 5 points higher than your baseline, just from fear and activation of the sympathetic nervous system, which is your body’s fight-or-flight mechanism. However, if your blood pressure rises at the doctor’s office above 130/90 on the first measurement and then goes down on the second, this is often referred to as white-coat hypertension, and is usually passed off by your doctor as benign.
