Blood pressure is represented by two values: systolic and diastolic pressures, which are measured in mHlimeters of mercury (or mm Hg). They’re written like this: 140/90, with the systolic number on top. When the heart contracts, it forces blood to surge through the arteries. This action results in systolic blood pressure. When the heart relaxes, pressure in the arteries drops like an ebbing tide-and that’s your diastolic pressure. High blood pressure occurs when blood can’t make a swift passage through arteries that are constricted or that may have become stiff with age or blocked by plaque. Your heart pumps harder to force blood through, hiking pressure up when it should be stable.
Here’s what different blood-pressure levels (in adults 18
and older) mean:
Category     Systolic (mm fig) Diastolic (mm Hg)
Normal     < 30     < 85
Normal     130-139     85-89

Hypertension:
1     140-159     90-99
Stage 2 (moderate)     160-179     100–109
Stage 3 (severe)     180-209     110-119
Stage 4 (very severe)     210 120

This entry was posted on Monday, July 23rd, 2007 at 6:51 am and is filed under Blood Pressure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.