Before you can know what is normal blood pressure you must know what blood pressure is. Physicians use a piece of equipment to monitor your blood pressure by cutting off the arterial flow most commonly in your arm. Then using either the machine or a stethoscope the nurse will find a numerical number that represents the pressure your heart exerts to push the blood through the constriction and the pressure that remains in your arterial system between heart beats.
The first number is the systolic or top number in your blood pressure. This is the big number that is the amount of pressure your heart exerts every day, with every beat, to push your blood through your system. The bottom, or diastolic number, represents the amount of pressure that remains in your system between heart beats when your heart is at rest.
The number that does the most damage is the bottom number since this is the pressure that is left in your arterial system at all times. In other words the higher the bottom number the greater your risk of developing kidney failure, heart failure, heart attack and stroke risks from high blood pressure.
What is normal blood pressure is affected by many different factors in your lifestyle. Your weight, diet, exercise habits, smoking and alcohol use all affect your blood pressure. Although there are medications that your doctor can prescribe that will help to bring down high blood pressure it is more effective and will have less side effects if you use some natural methods of controlling your pressure by making lifestyle changes. For instance you can lose weight, improve your diet, get moderate amounts of exercise, stop smoking and only use alcohol in small amounts.
So, what is normal blood pressure? Doctors are able to distinguish what is high blood pressure any number that is greater than 140/90. So if your top number or bottom number is higher your doctor will advise you to make lifestyle changes and then recommend medications that may work in your situation. Normal blood pressure is less than 135/85. However, how low can blood pressure go before it becomes a problem?
To answer the question What is normal blood pressure? you also have evaluate what is too low as well as what is too high. At this point not all doctors are in agreement as to what number is too low. The general consensus is that if your blood pressure is below 90/60 (either the systolic or diastolic number) you can be considered hypotensive or have low blood pressure. However, there are some people who function with their blood pressure lower in either the systolic or diastolic measurement. In this case low blood pressure should be evaluated on an individual basis.
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