diff --git a/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/prepare/AppContext.js b/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/prepare/AppContext.js
index c1176a154b..235fbb5851 100644
--- a/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/prepare/AppContext.js
+++ b/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/prepare/AppContext.js
@@ -292,6 +292,7 @@ module.exports = class AppContext {
 
   async addPage (options) {
     options.permalinkPattern = this.siteConfig.permalink
+    options.siteConfig = this.siteConfig
     const page = new Page(options, this)
     await page.process({
       markdown: this.markdown,
diff --git a/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/prepare/Page.js b/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/prepare/Page.js
index 04b7178a50..62851c15f0 100644
--- a/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/prepare/Page.js
+++ b/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/prepare/Page.js
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ module.exports = class Page {
     relative,
     permalink,
     frontmatter = {},
-    permalinkPattern
+    permalinkPattern,
+    siteConfig
   }, context) {
     this.title = title
     this._meta = meta
@@ -54,6 +55,7 @@ module.exports = class Page {
     this._permalink = permalink
     this.frontmatter = frontmatter
     this._permalinkPattern = permalinkPattern
+    this._siteConfig = siteConfig
     this._context = context
 
     if (relative) {
@@ -108,9 +110,13 @@ module.exports = class Page {
         }
 
         // headers
+        this.headersToExtract = ['h2', 'h3']
+        if (this._siteConfig.markdown && this._siteConfig.markdown.extractHeaders) {
+          this.headersToExtract = this._siteConfig.markdown.extractHeaders
+        }
         const headers = extractHeaders(
           this._strippedContent,
-          ['h2', 'h3'],
+          this.headersToExtract,
           markdown
         )
         if (headers.length) {
diff --git a/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/webpack/createBaseConfig.js b/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/webpack/createBaseConfig.js
index c04aae63d5..c9eeafc80b 100644
--- a/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/webpack/createBaseConfig.js
+++ b/packages/@vuepress/core/lib/webpack/createBaseConfig.js
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ module.exports = function createBaseConfig ({
   const inlineLimit = 10000
 
   const config = new Config()
+  const markdownConfig = siteConfig.markdown
 
   config
     .mode(isProd && !env.isDebug ? 'production' : 'development')
@@ -116,7 +117,7 @@ module.exports = function createBaseConfig ({
   mdRule
     .use('markdown-loader')
       .loader(require.resolve('@vuepress/markdown-loader'))
-      .options({ sourceDir, markdown })
+      .options({ sourceDir, markdown, markdownConfig })
 
   config.module
     .rule('pug')
diff --git a/packages/@vuepress/markdown-loader/index.js b/packages/@vuepress/markdown-loader/index.js
index f4fd02ab9b..4661476bc1 100644
--- a/packages/@vuepress/markdown-loader/index.js
+++ b/packages/@vuepress/markdown-loader/index.js
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ module.exports = function (src) {
   const isServer = this.target === 'node'
   const options = getOptions(this)
   const { sourceDir } = options
+  const { markdownConfig } = options
   let { markdown } = options
   if (!markdown) {
     markdown = md()
@@ -42,7 +43,11 @@ module.exports = function (src) {
 
   if (!isProd && !isServer) {
     const inferredTitle = inferTitle(frontmatter.data, frontmatter.content)
-    const headers = extractHeaders(content, ['h2', 'h3'], markdown)
+    let headersToExtract = ['h2', 'h3']
+    if (markdownConfig && markdownConfig.extractHeaders) {
+      headersToExtract = markdownConfig.extractHeaders
+    }
+    const headers = extractHeaders(content, headersToExtract, markdown)
     delete frontmatter.content
 
     // diff frontmatter and title, since they are not going to be part of the
diff --git a/packages/docs/docs/theme/default-theme-config.md b/packages/docs/docs/theme/default-theme-config.md
index e921d46ce2..71c5fda210 100644
--- a/packages/docs/docs/theme/default-theme-config.md
+++ b/packages/docs/docs/theme/default-theme-config.md
@@ -154,6 +154,17 @@ module.exports = {
 }
 ```
 
+### Extract Headers
+ While preparing the page, headers are extracted from the markdown file and stored in `this.$page.headers`. By default, VuePress will extract `h2` and `h3` elements for you.
+ You can override the headers it pulls out in your `markdown` options.
+ ``` js
+module.exports = {
+  markdown: {
+    extractHeaders: [ 'h2', 'h3', 'h4' ]
+  }
+}
+```
+
 ### Active Header Links
 
 By default, the nested header links and the hash in the URL are updated as the user scrolls to view the different sections of the page. This behavior can be disabled with the following theme config: