Exactly What Do We Mean When Speaking Of Normal Arterial Blood Pressure?
The body's blood pressure is constantly altering and it is extremely rare for a person to have a blood pressure reading which 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 taking a shower, drinking, walking the dog, sleeping, watching television, eating, sitting, walking, standing up and nearly anything else you can imagine can alter your blood pressure level.
While fluctuations in our blood pressure are simply a fact of life it can nonetheless create difficulties for your doctor who needs to be able to use blood pressure as a monitor of your general health. The challenge is therefore to attempt to establish a blood pressure level that we can consider to be a normal average and then establish limits below and above this figure that can also be considered as representing the range of normal blood pressure fluctuation. A good starting point is to look at the pressure in the body's arteries as the heart is pumping blood around the body.
Our blood transports a variety of nutrients and oxygen to all parts of the body through a series of blood vessels beginning with the main aorta carrying blood from the heart and ending in a multitude of extremely small capillaries.
The first consideration therefore is exactly how high a pressure is needed in the aorta as the blood leaves the heart for it to reach its destination in distant areas of the body.
Thereafter, the second consideration is how high a pressure is needed in the capillaries for the nutrients and oxygen to be moved into the tissues of the body.
Long and careful study over a number of years shows that the best arterial pressure to deliver blood to all areas of the body and to enable the transfer of nutrients and oxygen into the tissues of the body is 120 mm Hg. This figure represents the average arterial pressure when the heart is pumping blood around the body and is frequently called your systolic pressure.
As with most things in life though a pressure slightly below or above this figure is not going to make a great deal of difference and the body will continue to function quite normally. But, when the blood pressure rises too high or falls too low then you are going to start to run into difficulty.
So precisely what are the lower and upper limits within which the average person should be able to continue to operate normally?
Here the edges become a little fuzzy and the answer varies from individual to individual. Nonetheless generally speaking the upper limit for blood pressure in most people is approximately 140 mg Hg and the lower limit is about 90 mg Hg.
Perhaps the most important point at which to start however is to establish the figure that is right for you and that takes into account things like your age and general health together with your lifestyle. Once you have agreed this figure with your physician it is then simply a matter of keeping a regular eye on you blood pressure.
