High blood pressure is prevalent in all countries and affects millions of people. The increase in the number of people afflicted can be put down to our modern lifestyles which have bad diets and leave little time for working out. At first the symptoms may not arise, most people are not even aware of what is a good blood pressure reading and what is bad.
The heart is the most essential organ in our bodies. It is basically a pump that feeds a continuous supply of blood to the body. It will transport blood that is low in oxygen to the lungs and then move oxygen rich blood to every cell and muscle in the body.
If you have ever had a blood pressure test then you will know that two measurements are taken. The first recording is relating to the pressure of the heart when it is pumping, this is called systolic pressure. The other value is when the heart is at rest, this is the diastolic pressure.
The figure is actually calculated by the pressure that is felt by the artery walls as blood is pushed along. The reading is given as mmHg, or millimetres of mercury. When you are given a set of values it is usually the systolic number which is first or above. For example “110 over 80″ means you have 110mmHg systolic pressure and 80 diastolic.
High blood pressure is also called hypertension. A health specialist will categorize any continual reading higher than 140/90 as high blood pressure. At first the only symptom may be the actual reading, but if not controlled it can lead to serious cardio-vascular problems.
Low blood pressure is also referred to as hypotension. Though not serious like high blood pressure, if the readings are continuously abnormal it may be a sign of an underlying problem. A reading below 90/60 mmHg is seen as being low.
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