Blood pressure is a vital indication, which reveals the overall health of a person. To understand healthy blood pressure range, you require to know what systolic and diastolic blood pressures are.
- Systolic blood pressure is the blood pressure number when the heart contracts (beats).
- Diastolic blood pressure is the blood pressure number between heartbeats (when the heart rests).
Blood pressure has two numbers, the upper one is systolic, and a lower one is diastolic. The systolic pressure represents the heart contracting pressure, while the diastolic pressure represents the heart relaxing pressure (in-between heart contracts).
Healthy Blood Pressure Reading
Our body cells need nutrients and oxygen to fulfill their energy needs. Blood circulation provides these nutrient and oxygen to every tissue, muscles, organs and cells through blood circulation from the heart to every part within the body.
The heart is a muscular pump that pumps blood throughout the body during your entire life span. Low oxygen blood enter into the lungs and reloaded with oxygen. Oxygen-rich blood sent throughout the body. The heart pumps out blood with some pressure so that it can easily reach extremes. This pumping of heart generates blood pressure.
How does your body maintain healthy Blood Pressure?
Baroreceptors are sensors in the blood vessels that sense the blood pressure and send it to the brain, so that the brain maintains a healthy blood pressure by communicating with the kidneys, arteries, veins, and heart to increase, decrease, or maintain blood pressure, as needed. Its function is to ensure all the organs and tissues receives sufficient blood supply.
If your blood pressure is too high, baroreceptors send a signal to the brain. The brain instructs
- The heart to beat slower, pump less blood per beat,
- Relaxes the arteries that carry oxygen-enriched blood from the heart,
- Constrict the veins that carry oxygen-depleted blood to the heart.
Results in a drop in blood pressure until it attains healthy blood pressure.
On the other hand, if your blood pressure is too low, baroreceptors send signals to the brain. The brain instructs
- The heart to beat faster, pump more blood per beat,
- Constructs the arteries that carry oxygen-enriched blood from the heart,
- Relaxes the veins that carry oxygen-depleted blood to the heart.
Results in rise in the blood pressure until it attains healthy blood pressure.
If the above said control loop not able to maintain healthy blood pressure, then next master control system involving kidney is pressed into the service.
- If the blood pressure is high, kidney pulls more water out of the blood by excreting more urine than usual thus decrease blood pressures.
- If the blood pressure is low, kidney keeps more water in the blood by excreting less urine than usual thus increases blood pressure.
This control loop is slow acting; it takes hours compared to baroreceptor control which is very quick.
What is normal healthy blood pressure?
There is no standard for normal healthy blood pressure; this value varies from one country to another and from one institution to another based on their experience and the knowledge.
Normal blood pressure range is a blood pressure needed to keep the system healthy, and the chances of developing complication are at the lowest.
Based on the studies and collective information, the common opinion is a systolic blood pressure of 110 plus or minus 10 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure of 70 plus or minus 10 mmHg.
The study SPRINT (Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial) found that when systolic blood pressure was lowered to below 120 mmHg, there was a 27 % reduction in mortality from all causes compared to below 140 mmHg.