What Is a Normal Blood Pressure Reading During a Stress Test
It's one of the first things that happens during a checkup—a nurse slaps a black gage on your upper arm, inflates it, and then shouts out two numbers that later go into your chart. It's a blood pressure reading, of course—simply those two numbers can crusade quite a scrap of confusion if you don't know what they mean.
What's more: In that location's non ordinarily anything that would tip you off to a potential loftier blood pressure reading, until you lot get the reading itself. "The problem with high blood pressure is that, contrary to popular belief, the vast bulk of people will not experience whatsoever symptoms," Ian Del Conde Pozzi, M.D., a cardiologist and vascular medicine specialist for Baptist Health'southward Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute, tells Health. "This is the reason high blood pressure has been dubbed 'the silent killer.'"
To help you prepare for your next dr.'s visit—or if y'all've been tasked with monitoring your blood pressure at home—here's what you need to know nearly those all-important numbers, and how to keep your blood force per unit area in a healthy range.
What exactly is claret pressure?
"Claret pressure level is the pressure that exists within our arteries and drives blood throughout our body," says Dr. Del Conde Pozzi. At normal levels, your middle creates just plenty blood force per unit area to pump blood to vital organs like your eyes and kidneys without damaging your arteries over fourth dimension.
If your blood pressure level is elevated, though this hinders blood flow over time and tin cause organ damage, hardening of your arteries, and plaque buildup within your arteries. These changes narrow and stiffen your arteries, increasing the risk of blood clots, heart affliction, stroke, heart attack, and kidney disease, per the Centers for Illness Control & Prevention (CDC).
What practise blood pressure level numbers mean?
Blood pressure is measured with two key metrics: a height number called systolic claret pressure and a lesser number called diastolic blood pressure.
For example, a claret pressure of 120 systolic and lxxx diastolic reads as "120 over 80" or "120/80 mm Hg" in doctor-speak ("mm Hg" means millimeters of mercury since the chemical element was used in early claret force per unit area gauges and remains the standard unit of measurement), according to the American Heart Association (AHA).
"Systolic blood pressure is the peak pressure level during a heartbeat while the eye is 'squeezing,' and diastolic blood force per unit area is the everyman pressure between two heartbeats while the heart is 'relaxed,'" Jennifer Wong, Doctor, a cardiologist and medical manager of non-invasive cardiology at MemorialCare Heart and Vascular Constitute at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA, tells Health.
What'due south a salubrious blood pressure range?
A healthy claret force per unit area range is below 120/90 mm Hg and above 90/60 mm Hg, per the U.s.a. National Library of Medicine (MedlinePlus). Even so, exactly what normal blood pressure should exist gets a picayune more complicated on the lower end, as the tipping point for dangerously low claret pressure can vary person to person.
It's important to proceed both your systolic and diastolic blood pressures in a normal range, Uyen Lam, Doctor, a cardiologist and director of the Cardiovascular Rehabilitation and Prevention Center at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston, tells Health. Frequently, the focus is on your systolic blood pressure level (the meridian number) because it'southward a well-known risk factor for cardiovascular illness. Only with every increase by twenty mm Hg systolic or 10 mm Hg diastolic, your gamble of death from heart illness or stroke doubles, co-ordinate to the AHA.
What does information technology mean to have high blood force per unit area?
High claret pressure level or hypertension is a medical status where your claret pressure numbers are consistently above normal.
Even so, your blood pressure naturally rises and falls throughout the day. It could go up in the doctor's office if you have "white coat hypertension" or anxiety around medical professionals. Or you could have "masked hypertension" if your blood pressure is normal during a checkup merely becomes higher afterwards at work or home. That'south why to confirm a diagnosis of elevated blood force per unit area, yours volition demand to be measured with a claret pressure cuff multiple times under controlled weather, says Dr. Lam.
A md tin detect and treat high claret force per unit area depending on which phase you're in, per the AHA. Hither's what each phase means:
Elevated
Elevated claret pressure level is when your readings consistently fall in between 120–129 mm Hg systolic and less than 80 mm Hg diastolic. Shifts to a healthier lifestyle can aid foreclose the evolution of high blood pressure, but yours is likely to keep inching higher it if you don't make changes.
Hypertension stage 1
Hypertension Phase 1 occurs when your readings consistently hit 130–139 mm Hg systolic or eighty–89 mm Hg or higher diastolic. Depending on your risk of cardiovascular affliction, your doc may recommend lifestyle changes and perchance blood pressure medication, as well.
Hypertension Phase 2
Hypertension Phase 2 happens when your readings are 140 mm Hg systolic and higher or 90 mm Hg diastolic and higher. At this point, y'all're likely to get a prescription for lifestyle changes and medication alike.
Hypertensive crunch
At this stage, your systolic is college than 180 mm Hg and/or your diastolic is higher than 120 mm Hg.
If your blood pressure is in a higher place 180/120 mm Hg and yous're experiencing signs of potential organ damage like chest pain, shortness of breath, back pain, numbness, weakness, changes in vision, or problem speaking, telephone call 911 immediately. If your numbers are to a higher place 180/twenty without these symptoms, look 5 minutes and exam once more. If they're still upward there, contact your doctor right abroad, per the AHA.
What does it mean to have depression blood pressure?
Generally, low claret pressure or hypotension means that your blood pressure falls nether 90 mm Hg systolic and 60 mm Hg diastolic. Notwithstanding, this should be assessed on an individual basis.
Some people accept depression blood pressure level with no health bug, while others could accept an underlying status in need of treatment, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Establish (NHLBI). Other factors that can pb to high blood pressure include:
- Dehydration
- Astringent infection
- Astringent allergic reactions
- Sure medications for anxiety, low, pain, or surgery
- Diuretics
- Alcohol
- Conditions similar diabetes, middle failure, or an abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia)
If you or someone else has depression blood pressure and passes out, call 911 or seek medical attending immediately. Dangerous dips in blood pressure deprive organs of oxygen and can lead to daze, a medical emergency.
If you accept symptoms such equally black stools, dizziness, blurred vision, chest pain, shortness of breath, or a fever above 101°F (38.iii°C), call your physician ASAP, according to MedlinePlus.
Treatment for low blood pressure level involves addressing the root cause such as taking medication for an underlying condition or adjusting your current treatment program to avoid this side effect, says Dr. Wong.
How tin can you go on your blood pressure in a healthy range?
To maintain your blood pressure or bring it down to a safer zone, the following lifestyle changes can make a large departure,
- Eat less salt. The AHA suggests limiting your salt intake to no more than 2,300 mg (1 teaspoon) of salt per day or ideally less than 1,500 mg (⅔ teaspoon).
- Motion more. Aim for at to the lowest degree 150 minutes per week or about 30 minutes five days a week of moderate aerobic practise, co-ordinate to the CDC. Small habits like walking briskly, taking the stairs, and parking at the back of the lot can add upwardly.
- Adopt the DASH diet. DASH actually stands for "dietary approaches to stop hypertension," according to the NHLBI. The diet entails eating enough of vegetables, fruits, depression-fat dairy products, whole grains, poultry, fish, and nuts while cutting down on sweets, sugary drinks, and ruddy meat can be as constructive as taking blood pressure meds.
- Limit alcohol. Men should cut themselves off at ii drinks a twenty-four hour period while women should accept no more than one drink a day, per the AHA. Your doctor may also suggest at some point that yous stop drinking alcohol birthday.
- Quit smoking. Smoking'due south a summit risk factor for eye affliction, but y'all tin quit with assistance such as the Smokefree customs.
- Add stress management tools to your day. Punch down the pressure with tools like daily cocky-care habits, therapy, support groups, and relaxation techniques, per the CDC.
- Get plenty sleep. Schedule a bedtime and wake-upwardly time to ensure you're hitting 7–9 hours of close-eye.
Finally, you can arm yourself with knowledge—that means knowing your numbers and if/how they're changing. know your numbers. "All adults should develop the habit of monitoring their blood pressure routinely," says Dr. Del Conde Pozzi. If yours are at healthy levels, check your blood pressure every month or ii. If yours are consistently elevated, contact your doc to figure out side by side steps.
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Source: https://www.health.com/condition/hypertension/healthy-blood-pressure
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