You mentioned your BP was 140/78 "today".
It actually was only in the moment, since everyone's BP fluctuates all the time.
Definitely one reading only, specially at the doctors office (white coat HBP) is not enough to make a HBP diagnosis!
Taking multiple readings everyday and averaging them weekly, will give a more accurate BP status.
You are lucky to have such a good doctor who didn't take the prescription pad out right away that day, lol!
There are possibly millions of people who are unnecessarily on BP meds for life
for various reasons, but not for "essential " hypertension, if such a term exists.
If all doctors would monitor patients' BP over time and also give them a chance to make some lifestyle/nutritional modifications, the shares of the pharmaceutical companies who manufacture anti hypertension meds would go down in value due to lower sales, lol!
Watch out for excessive caffeine, alcohol, processed/junk foods, insulin resistance, high insulin , sugar
(a bigger factor than sodium! How come nobody talks about this??? ), lack of adequate physical activity & exercise, obesity, smoking, stress, sleep apnea and other sleep issues, low magnesium (RBC magnesium test, not just any blood test), low vitamin D ( if low, need to take K2 along with vit. D for effectiveness)
No, this is not the time to think about meds. It's time to look deeper and uncover
some underlying contributing issues (see previous paragraph).
I'm happy to report that I have convinced a few friends to ask their doctors to help them get them off all HBP meds, either because they managed to lower it naturally
on their own or because taking the drugs did not make any difference in their BP .
Many sufferers have drug resistant HBP.
Some of those drugs come with the possibility of serious side effects.
I hope my comments help answer your question, however, they are not intended to replace medical advice.
Best wishes,
Niko