Whenever you want something at home you call out for a single person you know who that is? Yes, indeed it is our mother, our support system. Everyone in a family is dependent upon that one person, she is the root of the family holding everyone together.
She is the “Heart” of the family. Likewise, the heart in our body is the most essential part of helping other organs in our body to function well. You know now that before any checkup why is checking the blood pressure mandatory.
Now you must think what’s the relation between heart and measuring blood pressure. Well, in the most simplest terms the blood pressure is measured to keep your heart in check if it’s functioning well.
Blood pressure is basically measuring the force with which the heart pumps blood throughout the body. So, when you measure blood pressure there are two numbers, one on top and other on bottom like a fraction.
For example-90/80 mm Hg. The top number is called systolic pressure and the bottom number refers to diastolic pressure. The ideal blood pressure is referred between 90/60 mmHg to 120/80 mmHg.
Any change in the number of diastolic or systolic numbers other than the ideal blood pressure number leads to heart problems.
Blood pressure is tested by a device called a sphygmomanometer which has an inflatable rubber cuff, a stethoscope, a measuring device indicating the cuff’s pressure, a bulb, and a valve. It is measured in millimeters of mercury.
Blood Pressure: Systolic And Diastolic In Details
Contents
Our heart is a blood-pumping organ that pumps blood throughout the body. It is as big as the size of your fist and is four-chambered; it has four valves as well, which opens and closes to let the blood move through the chambers and into the heart.
You must be quite familiar with the club-dub sound from inside your chest. Yeah, that’s the heart beating. Our heartbeats 60 to 100 times per minute or probably 100,000 times per day. as it beats the blood is forced against your artery walls causing the sounds.
As we know that in measuring blood pressure we get two numbers in fraction form one on top and the other in the bottom called systolic and diastolic blood pressure respectively.
- Systolic blood pressure is the force of blood against the artery walls by which the lower two chambers of the heart squeezes blood out to all parts of the body. The same force creates a pressure on the blood vessels and that’s your systolic pressure. A normal systolic blood pressure that is the top number is between 90 and less than 120 a reading of 120 or more means you have high blood pressure.
- Diastolic blood pressure is the force of blood against your artery walls when the heart relaxes in between the beats and is filled with blood by the coronary artery and gets oxygen. A normal diastolic pressure is the bottom number lies between 60 and less than 80.
Elevated Blood Pressure
It is a warning alarm for high blood pressure so as to keep it in check and take on a healthy living.
when your systolic pressure is between 120 to 129 mm Hg and your diastolic pressure is less than 80 mm Hg, This means you have elevated blood pressure. Although it isn’t harmful and the numbers are moving out of the normal range there are chances of it turning into high blood pressure leading to heart strokes and heart related problems.
Basically as the numbers are not technically considered as high blood pressure there is no medication required but a proper diet routine and healthy living must be followed in order keep the numbers in a normal blood pressure range because it won’t be long for it to reach full fledged hypertension.
Hypertension: Stage 1 (High Blood Pressure)
When your systolic blood pressure reaches between 130 and 139 mm Hg or if your diastolic blood pressure reaches between 80 to 89 mm Hg.
In this condition you might have hypertension stage 1 also known as high blood pressure.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have high blood pressure when only one of the numbers is high, what actually says if you have hypertension or not at any stage is the average of your numbers for over a period of time.
You might need medication as well if it is too high after the proper diagnosis by a doctor. If it isn’t that high you might take care and live a healthy life for a month and see if there is any change in numbers. High blood pressure increases the risk of heart diseases.
Hypertension: Stage 2
It’s the most critical stage and one can be in grave danger due to this. It’s when your systolic blood pressure reaches 140 mm Hg or more and diastolic blood pressure reaches 90 or more mm Hg this condition is considered as hypertension stage 2.
Some heavy dosage of medication is essentially required. Not only medication but also a healthy living is equally important with some physical activity and proper diet.
You can also consult a doctor which might help you have a healthy body. For example ACE inhibitors, alpha blockers, beta blockers etc.
Hypertensive Crisis
It’s basically a danger zone that one should never hope to reach.It is a serious health problem that occurs when the blood pressure reading is above 180/120 mm Hg. in this level of blood pressure treatment is urgently required even if there is no sign of symptoms.
Hypotension
When the systolic blood pressure is lower than 90 mm Hg or the diastolic blood pressure is 60 mm Hg this condition is generally considered as hypotension or low blood pressure.
Systolic or Diastolic blood pressure
Both the numbers in blood pressure reading show if the heart is functioning well or not the new findings of the high blood pressure treatments works in lowering both the numbers. The systolic as well as diastolic number both are important to indicate heart attack and stroke.
Till now we have covered a major part about the blood pressure reading and both the numbers show the heart abnormalities as per their reading.
The times have changed and doctors have started considering both the numbers but people above the age 50 who have high risk of heart disease.
Doctors pay attention to systolic blood pressure in this case, as it says the force of blood on the artery walls while the heart pumps blood to all parts of the body. The systolic pressure rises when there is increased stiffness in the arteries, plaque buildup, cardiac and vascular diseases.
We can’t even ignore diastolic pressure as it has its independent effect on detecting cardiovascular diseases.
Diastolic blood pressure is important to detect high blood pressure as sometimes people having normal systolic rate and high diastolic rate are at high risk as well.
Although the higher systolic number is considered more dangerous the lower diastolic number may lead to certain serious health hazards.
The researchers have found that a diastolic reading below 60 mm Hg or lower is at more risk of premature death than the people having a normal reading of both, heart failure and coronary heart diseases.
Conclusion
We are aware by now that, be it elevated number of systolic blood pressure or be it lowered number of diastolic blood pressure ,both are not good for health.
So, we should try and keep the normal range of blood pressure by practicing a healthy life.people above 50 must take care and get checked by a doctor if they have elevated systolic reading.
Lacey Arlo is a wellness expert and a nutritionist who aims to help members with health and diet queries. Lacey Arlo has worked with junior, national, and Olympic-level athletes by providing them with customizing programmers, supplement strategies, and support during their travel and competition. From weight management, PCOD, thyroid-related weight loss, and nutrition for children to diets for pregnant and diets for senior citizens, She offers nutrition-aided solutions for different age groups with consideration for each person’s unique health demands.