Blood pressure becomes a big deal especially when one is getting old. However, just what is blood pressure? Blood pressure is the force of the blood pushing against the walls of the arteries. Did you know that each time your heart beats about 60-70 times a minute it pumps out blood into the arteries, which is much well known as the systolic pressure. Furthermore, when the heart is at rest between beats your blood pressure falls, which is generally known as the diastolic pressure. Blood pressure is always read in two numbers and these are the systolic and diastolic pressures. A blood pressure reading is not complete without either of the two. The systolic pressure is the first written on the top or the top number while the diastolic pressure is the second number or the bottom number an example of which is a blood pressure reading of 120/80, or it may also be read as 120 over 80. Every person has different blood pressure to some a blood pressure that is 120/80 may mean normal while to others this same blood pressure may already mean high blood pressure to them.
Blood pressure changes especially during the day and at its lowest when you are sleep. However, it rises when you get up or when you are excited, nervous as well as when you are doing active activities. Moreover, for most of your usual activities your blood pressure remains pretty much the same whether you are sitting or standing still. A blood pressure reading of 140/90 or 140 over 90 or even higher signifies that you have a high blood pressure. The thing that happens when you have a high blood pressure is that your heart tend to work extra harder thus causing your arteries to take an extra beating which may result to a stroke, heart attack as well as kidney problems. In addition, if either one of the systolic or the diastolic number is higher it signifies a high blood pressure. Aside from that, people who have been treated for high blood pressure will still have high blood pressure even if they have already repeated readings of normal blood pressure range.
When there is not a single specific cause of high blood pressure known, such kind of high blood pressure is termed as essential or primary high blood pressure. However, in some people high blood pressure may be the result of some medical problem or may be the cause of taking some medications. When the cause of high blood pressure is known this is termed as secondary high blood pressure.
The danger of high blood pressure in pregnant women
There have been many articles written about the danger of high blood pressure in pregnant women and although my article may not present an entirely new concept I still hope that this article of mine will be able to help in providing further awareness especially among expecting mothers on the danger brought about by high blood pressure.
How to measure blood pressure
Measuring blood pressure is a painless and simple procedure that most of us have taken at some point of our lives. Moreover, the information derived from such simple procedure provides us with useful information regarding the condition of our heart as well as the condition of our blood vessels. You might be wondering by now how your blood pressure was measured. In measuring your blood pressure your doctor have told you that your blood pressure let us just say for example is 120/80. The 120 represents the systolic or the maximum pressure in an artery at the moment when your heart is beating and pumping blood through the body while the 80 represents the diastolic which is the lowest pressure in an artery in moments between beats when the heart is resting. Both the systolic as well as the diastolic plays a vital role in measuring your blood pressure since a raise in either of the two will signify that you have high blood pressure or hypertension. Measuring the blood pressure also requires certain steps to follow.
