10 Things You Should Know About Blood Pressure Readings

Blood pressure can go up and down during the course of a day, however, if blood pressure remains consistently high, it is called hypertension.

Most people have no symptoms with high blood pressure, unless the blood pressure is very high, so regular blood pressure monitoring is needed to identify people with hypertension.

Long-term hypertension can cause complications such as stroke, heart attack, and kidney failure. Once high blood pressure is detected, many steps can be taken to control blood pressure and prevent such complications from occurring. This includes exercise, a change in diet, and medications. Regular blood pressure monitoring will assess the effectiveness of treatments so they can be adjusted as needed.more>>

(illustration courtesty creativecommons/pace.edu)

Your heart gets important help from your body's other muscles. Especially, legs.

So much emphasis is given to the heart because that is where the fallout occurs when a stroke or heart attack sound the alarm for trouble, or worse. Especially important are those legs, which play an important role. Blood has to flow through 60,000 miles of blood vessels, according to Jalkiewicz, Joseph J. and Holper, Elizabeth MD on healthline.com.

There are two kinds of blood vessels, arteries and veins, carrying all that blood. The difference between one and the other is in wall-thickness. Therefore the pressure they can withstand.

In our legs, blood fights gravity to get back to the heart. When I picture thin-walled veins and somewhat thicker-walled arteries, and a series of thin, membranous valves that I found out about while trying to find out why blood pressure is so important, I also found out these valves are spaced at short intervals in our legs so blood making its trek along the way, keeps blood from backing up.

I found out there's an alternate compression and relaxation of the veins, as well as the one-way action of their valves, that provides a squeezing motion in our legs that actually mimic the pulsating motion of our hearts.

When you run, walk, or even just stand, the muscles tend to pump blood up from one section of the vein to the next, according to William D. Suggs, M.D., a vascular specialist in New York City.

"That's why in the Army when standing at attention they teach you to wiggle your toes and feet inside your boots so you don't faint," Dr. Suggs says. "The muscular contractions of wiggling your toes are just enough to keep the blood moving up from your feet."

Blood pressure is usually measured while you are seated with your arm resting on a table. Your arm should be slightly bent so that it is at the same level as your heart. The upper arm should be bare, with your sleeve comfortably rolled up.

Blood pressure readings are measured in millimeters of mercury (mmHg) and usually given as 2 numbers. For example, 110 over 70 (written as 110/70).

* The top number is the systolic blood pressure reading. It represents the maximum pressure exerted when the heart contracts.
* The bottom number is the diastolic blood pressure reading. It represents the minimum pressure in the arteries when the heart is at rest.

To find your blood pressure measurement, your health care provider will wrap the blood pressure cuff snugly around your upper arm, positioning it so that the lower edge of the cuff is one inch above the bend of your elbow. Then, she/he will look for your large artery on the inside of tour elbow by feeling for your pulse. The head of the stethoscope should go over this artery, below the cuff. It should not rub the cuff or any clothing because these noises may block out the pulse sounds. Correct positioning of the stethoscope is important to get an accurate recording.

Your health care provider will then close the valve on the rubber inflating bulb and then will squeeze it rapidly to inflate the cuff until the dial or column of mercury reads 30 mmHg higher than the usual systolic pressure. If your usual systolic pressure is unknown, the cuff is inflated to about 210 mmHg.

Testing for the highest amount of pressure in the arteries as the heart contracts - Next, the valve is opened slightly, allowing the pressure to fall gradually (2 to 3 mmHg per second). As the pressure falls, the level on the dial or mercury tube at which the sound of blood pulsing is first heard is recorded. This is the systolic pressure.

Testing for the lowest amount of pressure in the arteries as the heart rests - As the air continues to be let out, the sounds will disappear. The point at which the sound disappears is recorded. This is the diastolic pressure.

(photo courtesy flickr/creativecommons)

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Everything I found says normal activities should resume immediately after the blood pressure test: meaning nothing intrusive or stressful has occurred to your body. No more than taking your temperature to see if you have a fever. However, if your blood pressure test is taken as the result of suspicious symptoms, call your doctor if you begin to experience worsening heart-related symptoms following the test. See this website for more.

Ask your doctor for your blood pressure reading. Also, ask for help in understanding what it means. For many people, a healthy blood pressure reading is less than 120/80 mmHg.

Blood pressure is usually considered high, according to health.redorbit.com, when it is greater than 140/90 mmHg consistently. If you are being treated for high blood pressure, your blood pressure should be below this target. However, some people with kidney disease or diabetes need to aim for even lower blood pressure targets.

There is a new category called pre-hypertension. People have pre-hypertension if the systolic blood pressure (the first number, where there's the most resistance created) is between 120 mmHg and 139 mmHg, and diastolic blood pressure (the second number/least resistance generated) is between 80 mmHg and 89 mmHg. Pre-hypertension is considered a warning to people that they could develop hypertension and that diet changes and exercise should be started. Medications do not need to be started when a person has pre-hypertension.

If you are concerned about your blood pressure, you can monitor your blood pressure at home. Ask your doctor if monitoring your blood pressure at home is right for you.

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Blood pressure may be slightly higher in your dominant arm. The American Heart Association says if you're left-handed, your left arm may have a slightly higher reading than your right arm. Several studies have been done to determine what is a 'normal' variation between right and left arm. In general, any difference of 10 mm Hg or less is considered normal and not a cause for concern.

When you have your blood pressure taken at the doctor's office, most of the information I found says it is typically taken in the right arm. I usually offer my left arm and they never have "corrected" me.

But if you're measuring your blood pressure at home, and you're right handed, readings will probably be taken in the left arm. Unless you get someone else to do it for you. This may cause different readings at home and in the doctor's office.

The fact that there are differences in right and left arm readings emphasizes the importance of measuring blood pressure in both arms initially to prevent the misdiagnosis of high blood pressure.

If one arm has higher blood pressure than the other, that's the arm to determine if you have hypertension.

(photo courtesy creativecommons/flickr)

When I scheduled the appointment to get my blood pressure taken, I took the earliest time I could get because I couldn't have my normal cup of coffee before leaving the house. But, sad or glad, depending on your point of view, I carried it with me to drink as soon as I was released.

The medical information on the effect of caffeine on blood pressure is very confusing.

In one study of (it-doesn't-say-how-many) men investigators collected people with five different levels of blood pressure conditions. Nothing that pointed to bad or good results from drinking coffee were proven. "The researchers found that caffeine did increase blood pressure on average, but not equally in all groups." The American Heart Association reports this study done in 2000, and others, here>>.

After reading about other programs in 1999, and another of "a large study of women," I came to the conclusion that if you are in poor physical condition, caffeine and energy drinks with caffeine will definitely drive up your blood pressure. To the degree you are in good health and physically fit, caffeine will not hurt you.

(cartoon courtesy creativecommons.org)

It seems to me that the 10 to 20 minutes I spend every morning meditating is better as a preventative. But, I read in several articles that it is actually being prescribed by doctors.

Transcendental meditation reduces hypertension and cuts down on the need for blood pressure-lowering medications, according to a study of black Americans, according to Health Day News.

"It may be practical and feasible to lower blood pressure using the TM technique and thereby reduce or eliminate the use of antihypertensive drugs and their side effects," Dr. Frank Staggers Jr., co-author of a New York program and senior drug detoxification specialist at the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic's Drug Rehabilitation Program, San Francisco, said in a prepared statement.

The findings appear in a recent issue of the American Journal of Hypertension more>>.

According to Staggers, TM-related reductions in blood pressure and the need for medications "would be expected to result in major health-care cost savings and the prevention of adverse side effects associated with blood pressure drugs."

One really cool heart website I found is "Electric Heart."

(photo courtesy creativecommons/isokineticsinc.com)

Because the white-coat effect increases progressively with age, doctor's office blood pressure readings can overestimate true blood pressure more in older people.

You can't 'sense' that you have high blood pressure, or that it's going up or down. You have to measure it to get the facts. Some people may have higher readings at the doctor's office but normal readings at home - a condition known as white-coat hypertension.

Some people have reverse white-coat hypertension (also known as masked hypertension) - where the readings are normal at the doctor's office but high outside the office.

Monitoring your pressure at home under your doctor's supervision can help determine whether you really have high blood pressure - and if you do, whether your treatment plan is working.

(photo courtesy creativecommons/flickr)

The Heart asks Pleasure - first -
And then - Excuse from Pain -
And then - those little Anodynes
That deaden suffering -

And then - to go to sleep -
And then - if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor
The privilege to die -

by Emily Dickinson more..