Blood pressure is the force of your blood pushing against the walls of your arteries. Each time your heart beats, it pumps out blood into the arteries. Your blood pressure is highest when your heart beats, pumping the blood. This is called systolic pressure. When your heart is at rest, between beats, your blood pressure falls. This is the diastolic pressure.
Your blood pressure reading uses these two numbers, the systolic and diastolic pressures. Usually they are written one above or before the other. A reading of
· 120/80 or lower is normal blood pressure
· 140/90 or higher is high blood pressure
· 120 and 139 for the top number (systolic), or between 80 and 89 for the bottom number (diastolic) is prehypertension
Blood pressure tends to go up and down even in people who have normal blood pressure. Some of the things that can make it elevate are excited, nervous, or active.
High Blood Pressure
Also called: HBP, HTN, Hypertension
About 1 in 3 adults in the United States has HBP. HBP itself usually has no symptoms. You can have it for years without knowing it. During this time, though, it can damage the heart, blood vessels, kidneys, and other parts of your body.
High blood pressure (HBP) itself usually has no symptoms. Rarely, headaches may occur.This is why knowing your blood pressure numbers is important, even when you feel fine. If your blood pressure is normal, you can work with your health care team to keep it that way.
If your blood pressure is too high, you need treatment to prevent damage to your body’’s organs. Blood pressure can be controlled by healthy lifestyle changes and if needed medications. Talk to you doctor about the proper treatment plan for you.
Low Blood Pressure
Hypotension is abnormally low blood pressure. Normal blood pressure is a reading of less than 120/80 mmHg (mmHg = millimeters of mercury, a unit for measuring pressure). Hypotension is blood pressure that is lower than 90/60 mmHg.
Some people have low blood pressure all the time. They have no signs or symptoms and their low readings are normal for them. In other people, blood pressure drops below normal because of some event or medical condition. Hypotension is a medical concern only if it causes signs and /or symptoms such as dizziness, fainting, or, in extreme cases, shock. Blood pressure changes during the day. It lowers as you sleep and rises when you wake up. It also can rise when you are excited, nervous, or active.
The body is very sensitive to changes in blood pressure. Special cells in the arteries, called baroreceptors (BAR-o-re-SEP-ters), can sense if blood pressure begins to rise or drop. When the baroreceptors sense a rise or drop in blood pressure, they cause certain responses to occur throughout the body in an attempt to bring the blood pressure back to normal.
For example, if you stand up quickly, the baroreceptors will sense a drop in your blood pressure. They quickly take action to make sure that blood continues to flow to the brain, kidneys, and other important organs. The baroreceptors cause the heart to beat faster and harder. They also cause the small arteries (arterioles) and veins (the vessels that carry blood back to the heart) to narrow.
Most forms of hypotension happen when the body can’t bring blood pressure back to normal or can’t do it fast enough.
Outlook
In a healthy person, hypotension (Low Blood Pressure) without signs or symptoms is usually not a problem and requires no treatment. Doctors will want to identify and treat any underlying condition that is causing the hypotension, if one can be found. Hypotension can be dangerous if a person falls because of dizziness or fainting.
Shock, a severe form of hypotension, is a life-threatening condition that is often fatal if not treated immediately. Shock can be successfully treated if the cause can be found and the right treatment provided in time.
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