Of all the organs in our body, the heart is undoubtedly the most sensitive and appropriate in that, if it stops pumping blood throughout the body and delivers vital oxygen to other organs, including the brain, death will occur very quickly.
Despite its importance yet many of us pay little attention to the health of our heart until they are forced to do so, when most of the time it is too late. However, a heart test to measure our blood pressure was not easy.
Like most things in life, if the heart starts to have problems then there will be warning signs that give us time to take corrective measures, and these warning signs often come in the form of unusually high or low blood pressure.
The primary role of the heart is to take fresh oxygen and pump it through the arteries and then through a network of tiny blood vessels to all parts of the body. As the heart congests and forces blood into the arteries, pressure is applied to the walls of the arteries. Then, as the heart relaxes and its chambers regenerate ready to pump again, the pressure in the arteries decreases.
By measuring these two levels of energy, we can get an indication of how the heart is pumping blood throughout the body and thus see if it is functioning normally or not.
Until recently, you had to visit a doctor's office to check your blood pressure. The doctor puts a cuff on your upper arm around the level of the heart. He then placed his stethoscope over the brachial tube where it ran close to the skin surface inside your arm at the elbow and continued to blow the cuff.
As the cuff is inflated, it tightens in the arm to prevent blood from flowing to the brachial tract. Pressure on the cuff, indicated by a mercury manometer attached to the cuff, is released slowly and the point when blood begins to flow into the cuff, and when the doctor feels like a "pull" sound with his stethoscope, is noted. This is the point at which cuff pressure is equal to artery pressure as the heart pumps blood to it, and is known as systolic pressure.
The surgeon then proceeded to release the pressure from the cuff and monitor the sound of blood being pumped into the vein until no sound was heard at all. At this point the manometer shows arterial pressure as the heart relaxes and replenishes ready to pump again. This low pressure is known as diastolic pressure.
Blood pressure will vary from person to person and will rise and fall within each of us depending on various factors such as the time of day, our level of activity, whether we feel depressed, our general state of health and whether we are currently taking certain medications.
In the normal rested person, the systolic blood pressure will be around 120 mm Hg (millimeters of mercury) and the diastolic blood pressure will be 80 mm Hg. As an indicator of the degree of variability between individuals, and within any individual, the normal range of systolic pressure is considered to be 90 - 135 mm Hg and the normal range of diastolic pressure is 50 - 90 mm Hg.
If your blood pressure falls outside this study, your doctor will need to investigate further to find out why your blood pressure is abnormally high or abnormally low.
Since most of us do not visit a doctor regularly, and we only undergo surgery when necessary, it can often be months, or even years, between blood pressure tests, and we may happily walk around unknowingly. That we have a time bomb exploding within us.
However, today there is a complete list of the cheapest blood pressure monitors available for use in our homes and there is absolutely no reason to neglect our vital organ.
So, before disaster strikes you or one of your loved ones, why not take a few minutes to examine the various blood pressure cuts available and to purchase some peace of mind.
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