While high blood pressure (BP), or hypertension, can be life-threatening, blood pressure by itself is necessary for life. Indeed, without it, blood would not be able to circulate throughout the body and carry oxygen and nutrients to vital organs. If you are like many people, though, you may have a rough idea of what your blood pressure is, whether it is too high, and so forth. However, when your doctor tells you what your reading is, do you really understand what the numbers mean?
Normal BP will fluctuate slightly throughout the day depending on posture, exercise and sleeping, so it's accurate to say that your BP readings will fall within a range as opposed being constant.
Actual blood pressure is pure physics at work. When the heart beats, blood is pumped through the arteries creating pressure within them. This pressure (BP) is the sum of two forces: The force of the blood being pumped throughout arteries and arterial resistance. Hypertension results when the resultant force, or pressure, becomes excessive.
A typical heart beats between 60 and 80 times a minute under ordinary conditions. Given the above description of how BP is created, it's no surprise that it rises with each beat and falls between beats. Since both the pressure resulting from a heart beat, as well as the pressure of the heart at rest, is important to our understanding of overall health, BP readings include two numbers, expressed as a ratio.
Normal BP is considered to be 120/80mm Hg or less for adults. The higher number in the numerator is the systolic reading and measures the pressure when the heart is beating. The lower number in the denominator is the diastolic reading and measures the pressure when the heart is at rest. Each reading is measured in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg).
Taking a more active role in your health care is always a good idea. Having an understanding of what your blood pressure reading means is one way to do this.
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