Home | Health

Just What Is Meant By Normal Arterial Blood Pressure?

By: Donald Saunders


Read More About Health

Our blood pressure is always changing and it is very rare for a person to have a blood pressure reading that is constant. Almost everything we do will have an affect on our blood pressure which will move up and down as we go about our normal day to day business. Simple things such as standing up, sleeping, watching television, walking, sitting, eating, mowing the lawn, talking, taking a shower and nearly anything else you care to mention will affect your blood pressure level.

While the fact that our blood pressure is constantly fluctuating is simply a fact of life it can of course create problems for doctors who need to be able to make use of blood pressure as a monitor of your general health. The challenge is thus to attempt to establish a level of blood pressure which we can consider to be a normal average and then to establish limits above and below this figure which will represent the range of normal blood pressure fluctuation. A good point at which to start is to look at the pressure in the arteries of the body when the heart pumps blood to the various organs of the body.

The blood carries a mixture of nutrients and oxygen to every part of the body along a series of blood vessels starting with the main aorta taking blood from the heart and ending in a multitude of tiny capillaries.

The first thing which has to be considered therefore is exactly how high a pressure is required in the aorta when the blood leaves the heart if it is to reach its destination in far flung parts of the body.

Thereafter, the second thing which has to be considered is how high a pressure is required in the capillaries for the oxygen and nutrients to be transferred into the tissues of the body.

Long and careful study over several years shows that the best arterial pressure to deliver blood throughout the body and to facilitate the movement of oxygen and nutrients into the tissues of the body is 120 mm Hg. This value represents the normal arterial pressure when the heart pumps blood around the body and is generally known as the systolic pressure.

like most things in life though a pressure slightly above or below this figure is not going to make a lot of difference and the body will continue to work quite normally. However, if the blood pressure climbs too high or drops too far then you will start to run into difficulty.

So precisely what are the upper and lower limits within which the average individual should be able to continue operating normally?

Here the edges become a bit fuzzy and the answer varies from one individual to the next. However generally speaking the upper limit for blood pressure in the majority of people is approximately 140 mg Hg and the lower limit is approximately 90 mg Hg.

Perhaps the most important point at which to start however is to establish the figure which is right for you and which takes into account such things as your age and general health together with your lifestyle. Having agreed this figure with your doctor it is then simply a matter of monitoring you blood pressure.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

TheBloodPressureCenter.com provides advice on all aspects of blood pressure from the cause of high blood pressure to selecting an Omron blood pressure monitor

Please Rate this Article

 

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Health Articles Via RSS!

counter easy hit

Powered by Article Dashboard