Hypertension is the elevation of blood pressure in your arteries. Hypertension is important to recognize and treat. High blood pressure adds stress to your network of tubes that carry blood around your body from the heart, called arteries.
Patients are measured for hypertension to determine if it is mild, moderate, and severe or if it is present at all. Two values are recorded which are:Systolic
The systolic pressure is generally found to be around 120 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). This represents the highest pressure caused when the heart is forcing blood through the arteries.
Diastolic
The diastolic pressure is generally found to be around 80 mm Hg. This represents pressure in the arteries when the heart is relaxed.
When getting your blood pressure measured usually a sphygmomanometer (spig-mom-an-om-eter) is used or an automatic machine, which are increasing in popularity. During these procedures a cuff is placed around your arm and inflated in order to cut off the flow of blood through your arteries. The pressure is then slowly released until blood starts to move through your arteries once more. At this stage a loud thumping noise can be heard, recognized as the systolic pressure. Pressure is then continued to be released until the thumping vanishes and this is the diastolic value.