What is blood pressure?

Blood pressure or blood pressure is essential for blood to circulate through the blood vessels and perform its function of bringing all body tissues the oxygen and nutrients they need to properly maintain their activity. It can be defined as the force that blood exerts on the walls of the arteries, which is higher (systolic pressure) when the heart pumps blood into the arteries and lower (diastolic pressure) between beats of the heart muscle.

And these, the systolic and diastolic values ​​are used to measure blood pressure, which is important when assessing the overall health, as the case be above normal (hypertension) It can mean a significant risk of serious diseases (heart disease, heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, etc.). When it is low (hypotension) can cause mental confusion, dizziness, fainting, weakness or drowsiness.

Types of blood pressure

Based on the values ​​of blood pressure (the first is the systolic or high voltage and the second diastolic or lower), it is classified as follows:

Normal: the values ​​that determine the normality can range between 90/60 and 130/90 mm of mercury.

  

Hypotension or low blood pressure: when a drop of 20 mm Hg on the values ​​that have usually occurs.

Hypertension or high blood pressure: anything above 140/90 mm of mercury. Aging usually leads to an increase in blood pressure due to hardening of the artery walls, so it is very common that older people suffer from hypertension.

  

Prehypertension: in a newly built and which is determined when the blood pressure value is between 130/80 and 140/90 mm Hg classification. The reason is that experts believe that it is time to start a more continuous monitoring of blood pressure and preventive measures affecting lifestyle especially with regard to diet and regular exercise, as well as abandonment of snuff if smoker is.

   

Keep in mind that the values ​​of blood pressure does not remain unchanged throughout the day, but suffer oscillations depending on different factors. This classification defines the presence or absence of disease states. However, there are situations that may cause a rise or fall in blood spot voltage not necessarily imply the existence of a problem of blood pressure.Thus, stress or dangerous situations can cause a temporary but significant increase as a result of increased secretion of adrenaline and noradrenaline or activation of parasympathetic nervous system factors contribute to an increased heart rate. Conversely, dehydration, alcohol consumption, consumption of certain drugs, hypoglycemia or situations of shock (anaphylaxis, heart attack, etc.), among other factors, can induce a sudden drop in blood pressure.