The blood pressure in our body is continually altering and it is extremely rare for a person to have a blood pressure reading that is always the same no matter what. 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 sitting, watching television, walking, eating, walking the dog, drinking, standing up, talking and nearly anything else you can think of can alter your blood pressure.
While the fact that our blood pressure is continually changing is nothing more than a simple fact of life it can however create difficulties for doctors who need to be able to use blood pressure to monitor your general health. The challenge is thus to attempt to establish a level of blood pressure which can be considered as a normal average and then define limits below and above this figure which will represent the range of normal blood pressure fluctuation. The starting for doing this is to consider the pressure in the arteries of the body as the heart is pumping freshly oxygenated blood throughout the body.
blood moves oxygen and a variety of nutrients to all parts of the body through a series of blood vessels starting with the main aorta taking blood from the heart and ending in a mass of extremely small capillaries.
The first consideration therefore is just how high a pressure is required in the aorta as the blood leaves the heart if it is to reach its destination in distant corners of the body.
Next, the second consideration is how high a pressure is required in the capillaries in order to transfer the nutrients and oxygen into the body’s tissues.
Careful research over a number of years has shown that the optimum arterial pressure to deliver blood to every area the body and to enable the movement of nutrients and oxygen into the body’s tissues is 120 mm Hg. This figure represents the normal blood pressure when the heart is pumping blood around the body and is frequently referred to as your systolic pressure.
Like most things in life however a pressure slightly above or below this level will not make a great deal of difference and your body will continue to work as normal. However, when your blood pressure climbs too high or drops too far then you will begin to run into trouble.
So precisely what are the lower and upper limits within which the average individual should be able to continue to operate normally?
Here things become a little bit fuzzy and the answer varies from individual to individual. Nonetheless as a general rule the upper limit for blood pressure in the majority of individuals is about 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 level which is right for you and which takes into account such things as your age and general health as well as your lifestyle. Once you have agreed this figure with your doctor it is then simply a matter of keeping an eye on you blood pressure.
TheBloodPressureCenter.com provides advice on all aspects of blood pressure from the cause of high blood pressure to selecting the best home blood pressure monitor.
