The term, blood pressure usually refers to arterial pressure, which is the pressure in the larger arteries, veins and capillaries. The systolic arterial pressure is the peak pressure in the arteries, and this takes place near the beginning of the cardiac cycle – the diastolic arterial pressure is the lowest pressure which occurs at the resting phase of the cardiac cycle. Hypertension is when the arterial pressure is abnormally high. The healthy adult should have a pressure of 120/80.

Causes of Blood Pressure

In about 10% of people, high blood pressure is caused by a disease called secondary hypertension. When the basic cause is treated, the blood pressure usually returns to normal. These secondary causes include Read the rest of this entry »

Blood pressure is defined as the force of blood that is pumped towards the wall of the arteries. The reading to measure the Blood pressure is of two units systolic and diastolic. Systolic blood pressure indicate the pressure when the heart beats and is higher and diastolic is the reading to indicate the pressure of the heart while resting between the beats which is lower. The blood pressure reading varies throughout the day and depends on various factors such as stress or activity on a usual day. The normal blood pressure reading should ideally be 120/80. If the reading gets higher than normal, it is known as high blood pressure or hypertension. High blood pressure is when the heart pumps more blood towards narrower arteries. High blood pressure is further categorized to pre hypertension when the reading is between 120-139/80-89, stage 1 high BP ranging between 140-159/90-99 and stage 2 high BP with over 160/100.

High Blood pressure usually shows no evident symptoms for a longer period of time and ideally known as silent killer. If high BP is not Read the rest of this entry »