How to measuring blood pressure using measurements device

Like the flow of water in the plumbing of your house or in your washing machine, blood flows properly only when your blood vessels are open and not obstructed by clots or fatty deposits (which can occur in what’s known as cardiovascular disease). Your blood pressure also needs not to be too high, because persistently raised blood pressure (known as hypertension) causes a strain to your heart and can lead to damage of your blood vessels.

When you have your blood pressure checked, you may hear your GP or nurse mumble something like ‘. . .your blood pressure is 140 over 80’, or you may see it written down as ‘140/80 mmHg’. 

Here’s what these terms mean :

• Systolic blood pressure is the maximum pressure in your arm artery at the time when your heart contracts.
• Diastolic blood pressure is the resting blood pressure at the time when your heart fills up again and relaxes between beats.
• mmHg is the unit in which your blood pressure is measured. MmHg is the pressure needed to push a column of mercury (the chemical symbol for mercury is Hg) within a cylindrical vial up a certain distance (measured in millimetres), hence mmHg. Traditional blood pressure measuring device have now largely been replaced with newer electronic ones, but the same units of measurement are still being used.

Your blood pressure is said to be too high if it’s above 140/90 mmHg each time you have a reading taken. You can have:

• High systolic blood pressure: For example, a blood pressure of 170/84 mmHg.
• High diastolic blood pressure: For example, a blood pressure of 132/98 mmHg.
• Combined systolic and diastolic high blood pressure: For example, a blood pressure of 184/114 mmHg.

Treating raised blood pressure reduces your risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke, but in deciding whether you need to receive treatment your doctors consider various factors in addition to the actual level of your blood pressure.

‘Acceptable’ blood pressures can therefore vary from person to person. If your blood vessels are too narrow or blocked, or your blood pressure is too high or too low, you may develop health problems. Depending on which area of your body isn’t receiving enough blood (or enough of the oxygen and other nutrients that your blood transports), you may notice :

• Brain symptoms: If the blood supply to your brain is impaired you may feel dizzy, faint, confused or develop sudden limb weakness in the case of a complete blockage (for example, because of a stroke).
• Heart symptoms: When the blood supply to and from your heart is compromised, you may feel breathless, develop chest pain or suffer from palpitations.
• Leg symptoms: A blood clot in your veins (which carry the blood back to your heart) can cause pain and swelling in one of your legs (known as deep venous thrombosis, or DVT). This condition is dangerous because the clot can dislodge and travel to your lungs, where it can block a blood vessel. This can be dangerous and requires urgent treatment (see pulmonary embolism under ‘Lung symptoms’ in this list).
• Limb symptoms: Lack of blood supply to one or both of your legs can lead to intermittent pain on walking (called intermittent claudication) or leg sores (called ulcers).
• Lung symptoms: A blood clot in the artery leading from your heart to your lungs (known as a pulmonary embolism causing symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, coughing up blood and collapse) may develop from DVT and can be life-threatening.