How Blood Pressure Measured

If you have high blood pressure talk to your health care team about steps to take to control your blood pressure to lower your risk for heart disease and stroke.

How blood pressure measured. Blood pressure is measured in millimetres of mercury mmhg and is given as 2 figures. Blood pressure is measured in millimeters of mercury mm hg and recorded with the systolic number first followed by the diastolic number. Blood pressure is usually measured by wrapping an inflatable pressure cuff around your upper arm. When high pressure of 200 mm hg is applied to the arm by the rubber cuff the brachial artery gets closed and no blood flows in it.

This cuff is part of a machine called a sphygmomanometer. How is blood pressure measured. Learn more about blood pressure measurements. It can also be explained.

It is best to measure blood pressure when you are relaxed and sitting. A sphygmomanometer also known as a blood pressure meter blood pressure monitor or blood pressure gauge is a device used to measure blood pressure composed of an inflatable cuff to collapse and then release the artery under the cuff in a controlled manner and a mercury or aneroid manometer to measure the pressure. Diastolic pressure the pressure when your heart rests. Blood pressure is measured in millimetres of mercury mmhg and is given as 2 figures.

It is always used with a means to determine at what pressure blood flow is. For example a normal blood pressure would be recorded. In this way blood pressure is measured. Blood pressure is recorded as two numbers such as 120 80.

For each heartbeat blood pressure varies between systolic and diastolic pressures. The gauge uses a unit of measurement called millimeters of mercury mmhg to measure the pressure in your blood vessels. Arterial blood pressure is most commonly measured via a sphygmomanometer which historically used the height of a column of mercury to reflect the circulating pressure. Blood pressure values are generally reported in millimetres of mercury mmhg though aneroid and electronic devices do not contain mercury.

Measuring pressure invasively by penetrating the arterial wall to take the measurement is much less common and usually restricted to a hospital setting. Systolic pressure the pressure when your heart pushes blood out.