Understanding Blood Pressure Numbers

Blood pressure is the actual amount of blood pumped to and from your heart and commonly measured by wrapping an inflatable cuff around the upper arm, returning a series of numbers that reveal if your blood pressure ranges between the normal, is low or is high.

Blood pressure numbers are the determining factor to know if you are suffering from hypertension or if you are an average healthy individual. Low blood pressure is the condition that occurs less often but even then, a blood pressure reading reveals the number to find it out.

Because high blood pressure can only be found incidentally and not due to a particular symptom or sign, blood pressure readings are essential to discover this condition before it can cause severe health problems. This reading is the measurement of the force applied against the walls of your arteries as the heart pumps blood through the body.

Monitoring your blood pressure by a simple test performed by a doctor, a nurse or any other health care practitioner, you will learn your blood pressure numbers, which will reveal your blood pressure level according to a chart. These numbers represent the 2 forces used by the heart to pump blood.

Systolic pressure is the cardiac cycle during which the heart contracts and the measure providing the first of the blood pressure numbers. Diastolic pressure is the pressure on the arterial wall during the resting phase of a heartbeat, and the provider of the second number of the blood pressure reading.

A typical individual with normal blood pressure has a reading of 120/80, read as "120 over 80", the first number in the blood pressure reading is maximum pressure exerted as the heart contracts (systolic pressure) and the second measures when heart is at rest between beats (diastolic pressure).

Although the American Heart Association (AHA) mentions that the blood pressure numbers over 90/60 and under 140/90 are considered as normal blood pressure in adults, a note of know is the fact that diabetic individuals are diagnosed with high blood pressure at 130/80.

This margin is due to complications from diabetes developing much more quickly when an individual suffers from high blood pressure. Detecting the rise before the average blood pressure numbers, make it possible to prescribe medication before hypertension damages organs or brings on other health problems.

Diabetic patients have a 1.3% increase in the number of health problems that they can develop for each 1 mm Hg of blood pressure that raises uncontrolled. In addition, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, used to treat hypertension, are not recommended for diabetic patients.