Every time you go to your doctors office you get your blood pressure taken and they tell
you two numbers. One we call the systolic and the other we call the diastolic. What
do they mean and which is more important to control? We are going to get into this coming
up. Hi, I m Dr. Erik Richardson a board certified
Family Practice physician. I d like to welcome you to FamilyMed, a channel that focuses giving
you practical and accurate medical information to help you and your family. In today s video
we are going to be diving into what your blood pressure numbers mean and what you should
do about it. What do blood pressure numbers mean?
So let s talk about what blood pressure numbers mean. As I said before there are two numbers
that we see when we measure blood pressure. You have the numbers on the top which we refer
as your Systolic blood pressure and the numbers on the bottom we call your diastolic pressure.
Your systolic or top number refer to how much pressure your heart is exerting on your blood
vessels as it contracts and pushes the blood out of the heart. The bottom number or the
Diastolic refers to how much pressure stays in the blood vessels while your heart rests
between beats. So Why Should I care?
We care about blood pressure, not because of what any specific number shows but what
effect that that number can have on your body and your overall health. High blood pressure
is one of the most important factors that put you at risk for having damage to your
arteries putting you at risk for heart attack, stroke as well as other organ damage like
kidney failure. See what happens is that over time, the more your blood pressure is elevated
it puts strain and stress on the arteries. You combine that with the aging process where
the arteries get stiff it compounds this problem. All of this causes damage to the lining of
the blood vessels which makes them weak, helps form things called plaques which can rupture
causing that heart attack and stroke. So what s a normal blood pressure?
According to the most recent guidelines, normal blood pressure is considered a systolic or
top number below 120 with a diastolic or lower number below 80. Blood pressures between 120-129
/80 are considered elevated and those with a systolic over 130 and diastolic over 80
is considered high blood pressure. And by that, they mean those are the realms that
you start to become at risk for heart disease. It doesn t necessarily mean that at these
levels you need to take medication, but you do need to work on and addresses it with your
doctor. So what is the most important one to treat,
systolic or Diastolic? Ultimately the answer is going to be both
but this has been a moving target over the years. 50 years ago it was felt that the bottom
number was the best measurement of your health. Over time and with more studies we saw that
the top number or systolic blooc pressure seemed to be a more important predictor of
health. That has been the prevailing thought for quite a while and has been the major focus
of most doctors. More recent studies however have added more clarity to this question showing
that indeed both numbers are important. The emphasis still leans a little more toward
the systolic however you shouldn t ignore the diastolic.
So What s the best way to lower your blood pressure?
Well, frankly, there isn t any one best way for everybody. We should all primarily focus
our efforts on eating healthy, exercise, stress management and maintaining a healthy weight.
These are the principal things that you should be working on each day. Sometimes it s not
enough though. Sometimes medication is necessary to get your blood pressure under control and
decrease your risk. Sometimes genetics is the major factor and you already live a healthy
life so it is absolutely necessary. The best approach in getting your blood pressure controlled
is doing all you can to change the things in your life that are affecting it and working
closely with your doctor on other options when that isn t working.
So what s the take home message? High blood pressure is high blood pressure
no matter what is causing it. If your top number is high it s bad, if your bottom number
is high, it s bad. Get going on treating it to give yourself the best chance of having
a healthy life. Don t fall into the trap though of thinking that you can just take a pill
to fix it and ignore all the things in your life that are causing this to happen. But
also, don t fall into the trap of thinking that all medication is bad and evil when it
very well could be one of the things that could save your life.
So that s your answer to what those numbers mean and which is more important. Hopefully
you found this helpful. If you did, make sure to give this video a like and share it with
your friends. It helps our channel to grow and reach others that may need this in their
life. And don t leave without subscribing and hitting that notification button so you
don t miss out on any of our future content. I really appreciate you taking the time to
watch today and look forward to meeting with you in the next video. If you didn t get enough
go ahead and click here to learn about some of the things that you can be doing at home
to control your blood pressure naturally. So take care and we ll see you in the next
video.