I got my blood pressure checked when I was getting my tetanus booster shot after I got bit at the dog park a few weeks ago. The nurse rattled off some numbers, and I asked, “Is that good?” She said yes. Lucky me!
We all have blood pressure — without it, our blood wouldn’t circulate, bringing oxygen and other resources to our organs. There are actually two forces in the blood pressure, which is why we get a reading like 110 over 80. The first number is the systolic pressure, the pressure when the heart beats to pumps blood into the arteries. The second number is the diastolic pressure, when the arteries respond and the heart is between beats.
So what does that number mean? The number measures the force in millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) — how much the force of your heart beating can move the mercury in those old fashioned blood pressure instruments. Your blood pressure is constantly changing as you change posture, move around, or even breathe.
Under normal conditions, the adult heart beats between 60 and 80 times per minute. That’s the “resting” rate. A healthy blood pressure at the resting rate should be less than 120/80 mm Hg. So if your numbers are in that range at your next check-up, you’re in good shape.
If your blood pressure is consistently higher, you can start to have problems. Systolic pressure between 120 and 139 and diastolic pressure between 80 and 89 is considered prehypertension. With those numbers, you are considered at risk for developing high blood pressure. Anything consistently above 140/89 mg Hg is hypertension, which puts you at risk for heart attack, stroke, and other heart problems. Stage one hypertension ranges between 140 and 159 systolic and between 90 and 99 diastolic. Stage two hypertension is anything above 160/100 mg Hg.
High blood pressure can occur in adults and children, but is most common in people over the age of thirty-five. There are some risk factors you can change, like weight and lifestyle, and some you can’t, like heredity. Think you might be at risk? Stick around; we’re going to be taking a close look at blood pressure over the next week in the Health Blog.