What is Normal Blood Pressure?

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What is Normal Blood Pressure?

Blood pressure is one of the most vital signs of health or lack of it. Upon visiting a medical center, one of the initial examinations carried out on every patient is the taking of their blood pressure. Blood pressure is as a result of the heart pumping blood and resistance encountered in the blood vessels. Higher than normal resistance in blood vessels will result in the heart over exerting itself so as to ensure that blood flow is maintained. When the heart is working excessively hard, there is a danger of heart attack, stroke or other such health problems. It is therefore important to know what the normal blood pressure is and how to maintain it or lower your blood pressure incase it is already too high.

Blood coming from the heart will naturally be at a higher pressure than that which is flowing back to the heart. The blood flowing from the heart is considered to have the maximum pressure which is also known as systolic pressure while that flowing back is considered to have the lowest pressure which is also known as the diastolic pressure. To get the most accurate measure of these two requires that the blood pressure is taken as close to the heart as possible. This is the reason why blood pressure is measured at the upper arm where we have blood vessels that carry blood both away from and to the heart. For all practical purposes, these are the closest to the heart for measuring blood pressure.

Blood pressure measurements are expressed as a value of the systolic pressure over the diastolic pressure. An example would be 118/76 where 118 is the systolic or highest pressure and 76 is the diastolic or minimum pressure. In a normal human being the perfect blood pressure reading is 120/80. This is of course an ideal and it does not mean that having a reading of 121/81 should drive you into panic. This only translates to the fact that the closer you are to this ideal blood pressure the better it is for your overall health. When blood pressure reads above 130/85 it is important to begin taking steps that will help lower you blood pressure. This can be achieved by reducing weight, exercising, getting enough rest, reduced alcohol intake, stop smoking and eating healthy foods.
It is also important to note that low blood pressure could also cause health problems because it means that the organs in the body are not getting a sufficient supply of oxygen and blood. For most people a reading of 90/60 is indicative of low blood pressure. This could lead to damage of these organs. As stated earlier, it is best to work at having a blood pressure that is as close as possible to 120/80.

There are activities that could temporarily either lower your blood pressure or raise it to seem as though your health might be in danger. For this reason it is important to have you blood pressure taken when you are in a relaxed state so as to get the most accurate reading which hopefully will be a normal blood pressure reading of 120/80.

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