Blood Pressure
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Blood pressure readings provide a glimpse at what is occurring within the arteries of the body. Blood pressure is the amount of force of blood that is pushing at the walls of the arteries. In healthy people, blood pressure rises and falls throughout the day, based on the need of the heart to work faster or harder. Individuals with high blood pressure have pressure that remains high, too often.
There are two numbers in a blood pressure reading. The first number, or top number, is the systolic pressure. This is the amount of force in the arteries when the heart beats. High blood pressure occurs when this number reaches 140 or higher. Do note, you do not have to have a high systolic pressure to have blood pressure. This is isolated systolic hypertension, which is a common form of high blood pressure.
The second number is your diastolic blood pressure. This is the amount of pressure in the arteries in between beats. This is an important number for diagnosing hypertension, especially in younger people. The higher this number is the more risk there is for a complication to occur.
High Blood Pressure Chart
A blood pressure chart helps to clarify the difference from one blood pressure level to the next:- If your systolic number is below 120 and the diastolic number is below 80, this is normal blood pressure.
- A range of 120 to 139 in systolic or 80 to 89 in diastolic is an indication of pre-hypertension.
- A systolic range of 140 to 159 or a diastolic range of 90 to 99 is stage 1 hypertension.
- A systolic number of 160 or higher or a diastolic number of 100 or higher is stage 2 hypertension, the most dangerous level.
What Readings Tell Doctors
The readings obtained tell doctors a great deal about your current health. As you can see from the chart above, the degree of hypertension helps define the risk level. It also helps doctors to pinpoint the solution to the problem. For example, if someone has pre-hypertension, improving his or her lifestyle may be the only thing needed to improve this number. Someone with stage-2 hypertension may require medications, lifestyle changes and more aggressive measures.Readings of blood pressure are an important indication of health and well-being. The higher this number is, the higher the risk is that you will develop complications. More so, the longer you have a higher blood pressure reading, the higher your risks are.
Return to "Blood Pressure Chart" from "Blood Pressure Readings".
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