What does blood pressure mean

Measuring your blood pressure is the only way to know whether you have high blood pressure. High blood pressure usually develops over time. It can happen because of unhealthy lifestyle choices, such as not getting enough regular physical activity.

Certain health conditions , such as diabetes and having obesity, can also increase the risk for developing high blood pressure. High blood pressure can also happen during pregnancy. You can manage your blood pressure to lower your risk for serious health problems that may affect your heart, brain, kidneys, and eyes.

High blood pressure can damage your health in many ways. It can seriously hurt important organs like your heart, brain, kidneys, and eyes. The good news is that, in most cases, you can manage your blood pressure to lower your risk for serious health problems.

High blood pressure can damage your arteries by making them less elastic, which decreases the flow of blood and oxygen to your heart and leads to heart disease. In addition, decreased blood flow to the heart can cause:. High blood pressure can cause the arteries that supply blood and oxygen to the brain to burst or be blocked, causing a stroke.

Brain cells die during a stroke because they do not get enough oxygen. Stroke can cause serious disabilities in speech, movement, and other basic activities. A stroke can also kill you. Having high blood pressure, especially in midlife, is linked to having poorer cognitive function and dementia later in life. Adults with diabetes, high blood pressure, or both have a higher risk of developing chronic kidney disease than those without these conditions. Measuring your blood pressure is quick and painless.

Talk with your health care team about regularly measuring your blood pressure at home, also called self-measured blood pressure SMBP monitoring. Many people with high blood pressure can lower their blood pressure into a healthy range or keep their numbers in a healthy range by making lifestyle changes. Talk with your health care team about.

Learn more about ways to manage and prevent high blood pressure. Typically, more attention is given to systolic blood pressure the first number as a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease for people over In most people, systolic blood pressure rises steadily with age due to the increasing stiffness of large arteries, long-term buildup of plaque and an increased incidence of cardiac and vascular disease.

However, either an elevated systolic or an elevated diastolic blood pressure reading may be used to make a diagnosis of high blood pressure. According to recent studies, the risk of death from ischemic heart disease and stroke doubles with every 20 mm Hg systolic or 10 mm Hg diastolic increase among people from age 40 to The abbreviation mm Hg means millimeters of mercury.

Mercury was used in the first accurate pressure gauges and is still used in medicine today as the standard unit of measurement for pressure. While both are indications of health, blood pressure and heart rate pulse are two separate measurements. Learn more about the difference between blood pressure and heart rate. Great job! Your blood pressure is normal. To keep your readings in this range, stick with heart-healthy habits like following a balanced diet and getting regular exercise.

However, your numbers fall within the Elevated category, making you more likely to develop high blood pressure unless you take action to control it. Ready to make some small changes that have big impacts?

Healthy lifestyle choices are a great place to start. You are in the first stage of hypertension , but there are actions you can take to get your blood pressure under control. Your doctor will speak to you about small changes that can make a big difference and other BP Raisers. It looks like you have Stage 2 Hypertension.

Your BP falls within the Hypertensive crisis category and requires immediate attention. If it remains high, contact your doctor immediately as you could be experiencing a hypertensive crisis.

However, blood pressure changes naturally, a fact that cardiologists explored while writing about blood-pressure variability in Nature in March The overall guidelines for high blood pressure received an update in November They allow for earlier intervention.

In these new guidelines, the AHA also advises that doctors should only prescribe medication in cases of a previous heart attack or stroke, or in the presence of risk factors for these conditions, such as age, a diabetes mellitus diagnosis, or chronic kidney disease. Our blood pressure is highest at the start of its journey from our heart — when it enters the aorta — and it is lowest at the end of its journey along progressively smaller branches of arteries.

That pressure difference is what causes blood to flow around our bodies. Arteries affect blood pressure in a similar way to the physical properties of a garden hose pipe affecting water pressure. Constricting the pipe increases pressure at the point of constriction.

Without the elastic nature of the artery walls, for example, the pressure of the blood would fall away more quickly as it is pumped from the heart. While the heart creates the maximum pressure, the properties of the arteries are just as important to maintaining it and allowing blood to flow throughout the body. The condition of the arteries affects blood pressure and flow, and narrowing of the arteries can eventually block the supply altogether, leading to dangerous conditions including stroke and heart attack.

The device used to measure blood pressure is a sphygmomanometer, it consists of a rubber armband — the cuff that is inflated by hand or machine pump. Once the cuff is inflated enough to stop the pulse , a reading is taken , either electronically or on an analogue dial.

The reading is expressed in terms of the pressure it takes to move mercury round a tube against gravity. This is the reason for pressure being measured using the unit millimeters of mercury, abbreviated to mm Hg.

A stethoscope identifies the precise point when the pulse sound returns and the pressure of the cuff is slowly released.