What is the difference between the top and bottom number in a b/p reading?

Question

What does the top mean and how could i work to decrease it, and what does the bottom mean and how could i work to decrease it?

Answer 1

Blood pressure is the pressure of the circulating blood against the walls of the arteries, the veins, and the chambers of the heart. Blood pressure results from two forces. One created by the heart as it pumps blood into the arteries through the circulatory system. The other is the force of the arteries as they resist the blood flow.

Blood pressure, usually measured by an instrument called a sphygmomanometer is expressed in two figures.
a) on contraction- the systolic pressure: the pressure while the heart contracts to pump blood to the body.
b) on relaxation- the diastolic pressure:the pressure when the heart relaxes between beats.

You can help keep your blood pressure healthy by making some lifestyle changes.
Avoid too much stress
Take regular exercise
Eat a good balanced diet
Keep your weight down
Give up smoking
Reduce your salt intake
Buy an automatic machine & monitor your own blood pressure
Do not drink too much alcohol

A normal blood pressure, in an adult of normal weight for height and at rest, is around 120 over 80. A high blood pressure is around 140 over 90, and a very high blood pressure is around 200 over 100. Higher blood pressures may simply be due to age, but they can also indicate health problems in anything from headaches to heart problems. If you have any concerns or questions about blood pressure, consult your doctor.

Answer 2

There are 2 measurements for the determination of a person's blood pessure. The higher reading is called systolic. That is the measurement when the left ventrical of the heart contracts.The minimum blood pressure reading is called the diastolic pressure.
This is the reading of blood pressure just before a heart beat.
Losing weight will have a significant effect in lowering both readings. Regular exercise also has a big effect. (it can be as mild as a half hour brisk walk daily.) Blood pressure can also be lowered by meditation, and trying to take life in a more relaxed manner. There are vaious medications that will lower blood pressure. For example diuretics, which encourages the kidneys to secrete body fluid resulting in less blood volume. Beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin converting enzyme (ace) inhibitors and other drugs. The normal average blood pressure for males age 20 is about 75-80/120 milimetres (mm) and pressure rises as we age. A 60 year old man might have a "normal" reading of 140/87 mm. These are average values and normal people's blood pressure care vary significantly form those values. The average values for women are about 4 to 5 mm lower than males of the same age.
2 or 3 blood pressure readings should be taken at a session.
Posture and emotional state can significantly affect blood pressure readings. Indeed ther is the "white coat syndrm" where the doctor's office or hospital environment can significantly raise some people's blood pressure, every session.
Weight loss has the greatest natural lowering effect. (medication has a similar significant effect).
Dan the Answers-Man.

Answer 3

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
as far as lowering the numbers, eat right and see a doctor

Answer 4

Top is systolic and refers to the pressure your blood exerts on the vessel walls after the contraction phase (systole) of your cardiac cycle. Bottom is diastolic and refers to the pressure of your blood on vessel walls during the relaxation (diastole) phase of your cardiac cycle. You should not try to concentrate on lowering the numbers independently of one another. You doctor will have specific treatment regimines required to do that. If you are hypertensive then you should concentrate on lowering both numbers below the 140/90mmHg mark. Ideal blood pressure is around 120/80mmHg. If you take medication make sure you stay compliant with the medication's instructions. Eat a diet low in sodium, drink plenty of water, avoid fats and cholesterols, exercise at least 30 minutes a day for most days of the week and get plenty of rest. This should help to keep your blood pressure in the safe range. Contact me if you have any additional questions.

Answer 5

In between

Answer 6

which is the bad blood pressure number?