Are you one of those who wonder what those numbers used to denote blood pressure mean and what reading is a normal one? Well, listen up. Here are 5 things you should know about your blood pressure

•    BP is the pressure with which blood pushes against your vessels as it passes through your body. A normal blood pressure allows blood to flow and deliver oxygen and food to different parts of the body.

•    We measure blood pressure with two numbers (ie, 124/84 mmHg). The first number is called the systolic blood pressure and the second is called the diastolic blood pressure. These two numbers are written as ‘systolic/diastolic’ followed by the unit of measurement.

•    Systolic blood pressure is your highest blood pressure measurement and is recorded when your heart contracts.

•    Diastolic blood pressure is your lowest blood pressure measurement and is recorded when your heart relaxes and fills with blood.

•    The ideal blood pressure is 120/70mmHg.  Any figure between this and 140/90 is pre-hypertension and a call to action and lifestyle modifications.

Lifestyle modifications include exercise, weight control, diet watch (portion control, use of less salt, eating more fruits and vegetables, using less oil in our foods and when we do use oil to focus on the heart healthy oils) etc

More about blood pressure tomorrow

Have a great day 😀