November 10, 2004

What's that mean?

Who among us hasn't had his or her blood pressure checked, been told it's "x over y," and wondered just exactly what that meant? Who's followed up to find out?

Blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury. National guidelines for most people say systolic pressure, when the heart contracts, should be lower than 140 millimeters. Diastolic pressure, when the heart relaxes between beats, should be lower than 90.
Now you know.

Posted by Linkmeister at November 10, 2004 10:30 AM
Comments

oh.

Posted by: RON at November 10, 2004 11:14 AM

A good rule of thumb for systolic pressure is 100+your age. Salt seems to be the prime culprit for high bp - some people also seem to be more susceptible to salt than others. It's scary how much salt is added to food, especially food aimed at children. These days I rarely add salt when I'm cooking and only put it on fish & chips - it's surprising how salty processed food tastes now I'm not used to much salt. I can't eat ready meals etc now, they taste much too salty. I'll get off my soap box now ;)

Posted by: Shelagh at November 10, 2004 11:33 AM

I don't know, Linky - if someone showed up for me to take their blood pressure and the reading was 140/90, they'd be in for a medication adjustment to bring it down.

Posted by: Suzette at November 10, 2004 11:51 AM

My cousin, who was a doctor, explained it to my mother this way -- I remember it vividly even though I was only ten or so:

when your heart squeezes out, it pushes your blood through your veins with X amount of force (that's the systolic). When it's resting, your blood is still going through your veins with Y amount of force (diastolic). When either number is high, your heart is going to wear out faster because it's working that much harder.

Scariest part -- you can't always tell when it's high. and it will kill you.

Posted by: Skatemom at November 11, 2004 07:24 AM

Yup, Skatemom. That's why I've been on three or four different varieties of pills for high BP for 15 years (not all at the same time, I hasten to add).

Posted by: Linkmeister at November 11, 2004 09:30 PM