Diet Fitness Health

Ever wonder what those two numbers in your blood pressure reading stand for? It’s interesting how doctors make such a big deal out of how high or low those numbers are, while we ourselves can’t make heads or tails out of it.

These numbers symbolize how hard your blood is pushing against the walls of your arteries. Imagine how water builds up in a hose until it damages it, that’s how your blood can also damage your arteries and make you more prone to strokes and cardiac arrest.

120/80 mmHg. This is how a blood pressure reading looks like. The first number represents your systolic blood pressure, and the second number represents your diastolic blood pressure. Systolic blood pressure is the pressure your blood exerts on your arteries when your heart beats. Diastolic blood pressure is your blood pressure when your heart is at rest between beats.

120/80 is considered as normal blood pressure reading. Most people have this reading or a slightly lower reading. If a person has a blood pressure slightly higher than 120/80, he/she is considered as prehypertensive, and doctors start treatment at this stage to prevent the blood pressure from escalating.

Of the two numbers, it’s long been thought that a higher diastolic blood pressure (the second number) contributed to hypertension and its subsequent medical concerns. However, it’s been recently suggested that higher systolic blood pressures (the first number) also pose a measure of risk, particularly for individuals past the age of 50.

When an individual registers a blood pressure reading of 140/90 or higher in two different sessions, then he/she has hypertension. Left untreated, hypertension can lead to several other medical conditions.

When it comes to bringing those numbers down to 120/80, doctors often suggest drastic, life-changing practices to their patients. They may ask individuals to stop smoking or drinking, to get into vigorous exercise regimens, or to change their diets entirely.

When these individuals can’t keep up with the doctor’s order (and they usually can’t), they lose any blood pressure drop and they get back into hypertension. In other words, hypertension can bring some very unsavory changes to a person’s life.

But it doesn’t have to.

My Hypertension Program doesn’t entail any life-changing practices. In fact, most of its exercises are something you can do while you go on about your day. Wouldn’t you like to be one of the hundreds of my customers to normalize their blood pressures for good?

So now that you know the meaning of those numbers, it’s much more satisfying to see them go down to 120/80 and stay there.

Warm regards,

Christian Goodman

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