Your blood pressure is a measure of the force exerted on the artery walls by your blood as your heart beats and forces the blood around your body. This measure is in two parts, namely systolic and diastolic. Systolic pressure is recorded as the force on the artery wall at the time the hear beats whereas diastolic pressure is the force registered on the artery walls when the heart is at rest. Normal blood pressure is considered to be 1 systolic pressure of 120 and a diastolic pressure of 80 which is reported as 120/80. Optimal is 115/75.
Blood pressure, depending on the results reported is classified according to five categories, optimal, normal, prehypertension, stage 1 and stage 2 hypertension. Three of these categories are above normal. If just one of your numbers falls in one of these divisions then overall you are considered to be in that classification.
For a long time medical experts and doctors considered diastolic pressure to be the most important number to work with but this has been found to be incorrect. It is actually the level of your systolic pressure that is more important. Increases in the levels of your systolic pressure are more reliable forecasters of the heart disease that can develop on to a stroke or heart attack. Current guidelines suggest that lowering your systolic pressure by as little as 5 points can greatly reduce the prospect of death by heart attack and reduce your chances of having a stroke by as much as 14%.
In the grand scheme of things diastolic pressure is not as critical as systolic and for those of us over 40 there is more to think about. Studies have shown that for each rise of 20mm of mercury in systolic pressure or 10mm in diastolic pressure the risk of heart disease doubles. So just to be clear if your blood pressure is at the optimal or normal level and over a period of time your systolic pressure rises by 20mm your risk of heart disease has doubled. If your blood pressure then rises again over a further period of time your risk has then DOUBLED again. Makes you think.
High diastolic pressure may no longer be considered to be the most important forecaster of heart disease but it is still important when it comes to the dangers of suffering from a stroke or heart attack. Perhaps now is the time to reconsider the exercise program you know you should be on but have been putting off for sometime now. Or the few pounds you know you need to lose. Weight lost positively impacts your blood pressure. And you know you should quit smoking.
Keeping track of your blood pressure can be a haphazard process if you rely only on visits to your doctor to get it measured. Wrist blood pressure monitors are accurate, reliable and convenient for home use and may be the best home blood pressure monitor for you in your efforts to get it under control.
