Normal blood pressure is vital to life. Without the pressure that forces our blood to flow around the circulatory system, no oxygen or nutrients would be delivered through our arteries to the tissues and organs.

However, blood pressure can become dangerously high, and it can also get too low.

In this article, we will discuss what blood pressure is, how it is measured, and what the measurements mean for our health.

What is blood pressure?

Blood pressure is the force that moves blood through our circulatory system.

It is an important force because oxygen and nutrients would not be pushed around our circulatory system to nourish tissues and organs without blood pressure.

Blood pressure is also vital because it delivers white blood cells and antibodies for immunity, and hormones such as insulin.

Just as important as providing oxygen and nutrients, the fresh blood that gets delivered is able to pick up the toxic waste products of metabolism, including the carbon dioxide we exhale with every breath, and the toxins we clear through our liver and kidneys.

Blood itself carries a number of other properties, including its temperature. It also carries one of our defenses against tissue damage, the clotting platelets that prevent blood loss following injury.

But what exactly is it that causes blood to exert a pressure in our arteries? Part of the answer is simple - the heart creates blood pressure by forcing out blood when it contracts with every heartbeat. Blood pressure, however, cannot be created solely by the pumping heart.

Function

Our circulation is similar to a highly sophisticated form of plumbing - blood has 'flow' and arteries are 'pipes.' A basic law of physics gives rise to our blood flow, and this law also applies in a garden hose pipe.

Blood flows through our body because of a difference in pressure.

Our blood pressure is highest at the start of its journey from our heart - when it enters the aorta - and it is lowest at the end of its journey along progressively smaller branches of arteries. That pressure difference is what causes blood to flow around our bodies.

Arteries affect blood pressure in a similar way to the physical properties of a garden hose pipe affecting water pressure. Constricting the pipe increases pressure at the point of constriction.

Without the elastic nature of the artery walls, for example, the pressure of the blood would fall away more quickly as it is pumped from the heart.

While the heart creates the maximum pressure, the properties of the arteries are just as important to maintaining it and allowing blood to flow throughout the body.

The condition of the arteries affects blood pressure and flow, and narrowing of the arteries can eventually block the supply altogether, leading to dangerous conditions including stroke and heart attack.

Readings

A stethoscope identifies the precise point when the pulse sound returns and the pressure of the cuff is slowly released. Using the stethoscope enables the person measuring the blood pressure to listen out for two specific points.

Blood pressure readings consist of two figures - the systolic pressure first and the diastolic pressure second. The reading is given as, for example, 140 over 90 mmHg.

The systolic pressure is the higher figure caused by the heart's contraction, while the diastolic number is the lower pressure in the arteries, during the brief 'resting' period between heartbeats.
Ranges

The National Institutes of Health cite normal blood pressure to be below 120 mmHg systolic and 80 mmHg diastolic.

However, blood pressure changes naturally, a fact that is best described in a quote from cardiologists writing about blood-pressure variability in a paper published by Nature in March 2013:

"Blood pressure is characterized by marked short-term fluctuations occurring within a 24-hour period (beat-to-beat, minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, and day-to-night changes) and also by long-term fluctuations occurring over more prolonged periods of time (days, weeks, months, seasons, and even years)."

The guidelines state that for blood pressures above a figure of 115/75 mmHg, every rise of 20/10 mmHg doubles the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Since 2017, the American Heart Association (AHA) has advised that high blood pressure should be treated at 130/80 rather than 140/90.

The overall guidelines for high blood pressure received an update in December 2013, drawing from the evidence to recommend that anyone aged 60 years or more with hypertension should aim for a blood pressure level of less than 150/90 mmHg.