when you get your blood pressure taken what does the two readings mean?

Answer 1

120/80 the 120 is the pressure when your heart Pumps, and the 80 is the pressure when it relaxes.

LUB DUB - Lub is the 120 - Dub is the 80

Answer 2

Hi:

"Blood pressure is commonly measured by wrapping an inflatable cuff around the upper arm. Air is pumped into the cuff until circulation is cut off; when a stethoscope is placed over the cuff , there is silence. Then as the air is slowly let out of the cuff, blood begins to flow again and can be heard through the stethoscope. This is the point of greatest pressure (called Systolic), and is usually expressed as how high it forces a column of mercury to rise in a tube. At its highest normal pressure, the heart would send a column of mercury to a height of about 120 millimeters. At some point, as more and more air is let out of the cuff, the pressure exerted by the cuff is so little that the sound of the blood pulsing against the artery walls subsides and there is silence again. This is the point of lowest pressure (called Diastolic), which normally raises the mercury to about 80 millimeters. "

Complete article with reference values and hypertension values can be found here >>http://www.new-fitness.com/Blood_Pressure/numbers.html

I hope this info will be helpful in clearing your doubt.

>>>Naveen Kumar

Answer 3

3 years ago, I was diagnosed - hypertension with a reading of 160/100. I used to feel dizzy a lot, my legs had awful cramps, and levels were very low in my potassium, causing my fingers and toes to always cramp together. One day I started to feel really faint while I was driving with my daughter in the back seat and I passed out, hitting 3 cars and ending up in a ditch. That moment,I knew I had to do something because my meds weren't working. I heard about this diet from a friend and thought I'd give it a shot. The results have been remarkable. In just 21 days, I honestly can't remember feeling this good, my blood pressure went from 175/110 to 125/70.

Answer 4

The heart contracts to pump the blood. This pressure is the top number.
Then the heart relaxes, between beats, and this is the bottom number.

120/80 is about average and good. The RATIO should be 3/2, such that the top number is 1&1/2 times the bottom number.

Answer 5

Blood pressure is universally measured in millimetres of mercury (mm Hg), and always given relative to atmospheric pressure.
The two numbers (e.g. 135 over 85) refer to the systolic and the diastolic pressure respectively.
The systolic pressure is defined as the peak pressure in the arteries during the cardiac cycle, while the diastolic pressure is the lowest pressure at the resting phase of the cardiac cycle.

Answer 6

The larger number is the pressure in your arteries (oxygen rich) and the smaller number is the pressure in your veins (carbon dioxide rich) meassured in mercury pillar height in mm (that's just a pressure unit).

Answer 7

The 1st answer is right. The second is..... a good guess but no banana.