how do you read your blood pressure and what do the numbers mean??

Answer 1

Sean is correct except for his normal range... As 140 systolic or 90 diastolic are consider to be in the hypertensive range these numbers should not be considered normal. Additionally, a systolic of below 120 and diastolic below 70 are frequently seen and considered healthy if the person has no symptoms of low blood pressure. Carefully watch a BP over 135 or 85.

To best understand your actual blood pressure it shopuld be take for 5 days in a row at approximately the same time. Avoid using caffine, smoking or the use to drugs that may affect your blood pressure for 1 hour prior to taking the reading. Also, the best and most accurate readings are from the left arm after sitting reasonably still for 5 minutes. If you have a home digital BP cuff. Take it with you to the doctor or seek out a freind with health care training and have them do a comparrison reading with a manual spygmomanometer and stethoscope, to make sure your home device is reasonable accurate.

Answer 2

A blood pressure reading indicates the force of blood during two different events in the circulatory system:

When the large chambers of the heart contract (the systolic reading), and...

When the chambers relax between the contractions (the diastolic reading).

If you are using a digital machine, it's pretty simple to read.
It should be in the 120/80 range.

If you are using a traditional blood pressure cuff, Please follow the link I provided.

Hope this information is what you wanted =)

Answer 3

Basically, with each beat, your heart contracts, sending a surge of pressure into the bloodstream. This first surge period is called "systolic". It is the first number in your blood pressure reading. After the surge period, your heart rests and expands in preparation for another beat. This expansion period is called "diastolic". It is the second number in your blood pressure reading. So, a blood pressure reading of 120 over 80 means you have a systolic pressure of 120 and a diastolic pressure of 80.

A healthy blood pressure is one with systolic readings of 120-140, and a diastolic reading of 70-90.