07-19-2007
What is A Healthy Blood Pressure ?
Strictly speaking, there is no figure which represents a “normal” or healthy blood pressure.
Most agree that somewhere in the range 110/70 and 125/80 is considered to be an average blood pressure for an adult, though someone with naturally low blood pressure could well be around 100/60.
A blood pressure of 140/90 is considered to be high, though with age, this falls into the more normal range for people.
Most people believe that in a healthy person blood circulates in an even stream around the body - in fact, the blood travels in a constant series of spurts, so that the pressure peaks in the blood vessels just after a heart beat and then drops until the next one, on and on in a continuous process.
The two blood pressure figures - for example 100/70 - represent the pressures when the forces are at their peak and at their lowest. And the stronger the arteries, the more they will resist the force of the blood and consequently the lower the blood pressure will be. And usually the healthier and fitter we are, the stronger the arteries
When we get older, and the elasticity of our arteries weakens, the blood pressure figures tend to rise. For a normal healthy person, or one with a good level of fitness, the lower figure should still be below 90 until that person is in their sixties.
Many people suffering high blood pressure find they just can’t identify a single cause for their problem. They may have a level of fitness, have a reasonably healthy lifestyle but their blood pressure still remains high. This is called Primary or essential high blood pressure. Secondary High Blood Pressure is where the raised blood pressure is identified as being due to an underlying medical problem.
Around 25% of Westerners suffer from high blood pressure, yet many of these do not understand that it is a dangerous condition that, if left untreated, can promote a heart attack, kidney failure or stroke. So there are thousands of people, millions even, completely unaware that they have high blood pressure, which makes them more vulnerable to killer conditions mentioned above.
So get your blood pressure checked, and if you are advancing in years, even if you are healthy with good fitness, get this done regularly.
It could be a life saver.
Posted by Siobbhan in Health Fitness | RSS 2.0
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