Blood Pressure

Your blood pressure is considered to be one of your "vital signs" because increases or decreases in it can give doctors and nurses clues to underlying problems like infections, injuries, heart attacks and so forth.

It is measured in the resulting rise in a column of mercury in millimeters, abbreviated as mm Hg. The first higher number is the systolic pressure, which is the pressure in your arteries when your heart is pumping. The second lower number is the diastolic pressure, which is the "standing" pressure in your arteries when your heart is filling. (There has to be some positive pressure then in order for blood to flow up against gravity to your brain, and against resistance to reach your hands and feet.)

On a chronic ongoing basis, your blood pressure should be lower than 130/85. We find that risk of heart attack and stroke starts to get higher above this. Specifically, there is a doubling in risk of heart attack and stroke for every 20/10 in chronic blood pressure over 120/80. Lower than 110/60 (again, assuming you are not on heart medications) is not healthier.

By chronic, I mean at rest on a day to day basis and not with exercise or on heart medications. Your blood pressure normally changes throughout the day and may vary with activity, exercise, time of day, diet, stress or illness.

We used to think that if your blood pressure went up just in the ER or the doctor's office that this was just due to understandable anxiety. However, we now know that this lability or rapid changability in your blood pressure is just as dangerous to you as sustained high blood pressure.

Keeping your blood pressure under control is important because high blood pressure almost never causes symptoms. Therefore, you may only find out that your blood pressure is high through having a heart attack or stroke unless you are having it checked.

Fortunately, the benefits of having or getting your blood pressure to less than 130/85 are just as good with medications as without them. More on that...