The term blood pressure refers to the force exerted by the blood stream within the body on the walls of arteries and veins. Blood pressure of great importance to the normal functioning of the human body, therefore it is considered a crucial vital sign that should be carefully monitored, especially by those that suffer from hypertension, a condition characterized by abnormally high blood pressure levels. In this context one might ask, what exactly is normal adult blood pressure?  It turns out this is a quite tricky question since, like other vital signs, blood pressure varies significantly with age, weight, general health, body type and constitution. Therefore we are not dealing with a single value. The normal adult blood pressure range is between two boundaries, a lower and an upper limit. By carefully monitoring your blood pressure you can raise awareness about various cardiac health problems.

Why Should You Try to Maintain Normal Blood Pressure?

Heart failure, arterial aneurysm, stroke, heart enlargement, kidney disease are just a few of the life threatening complications associated with abnormally high blood pressure. Diseases such as diabetes, severe forms of obesity predispose to hypertension and exacerbate its symptoms. Given the above reasons it might not be a bad idea to check that you are within the normal adult blood pressure range.

How is Blood Pressure Measured?

The device used to measure blood pressure is called a sphygmomanometer. It comprises an inflatable cuff to restrict blood flow, and a mercury or mechanical manometer to measure the pressure. Usually, the cuff is placed around the right arm, at roughly the same vertical height as the heart while the subject seated. One of the most important steps is determining the correct size of cuff for the patient; a cuff that is too small results in too much applied pressure, whilst too large a cuff results in too low a pressure. Afterwards, the cuff is inflated until the artery is completely occluded. The examiner places a stethoscope to the brachial artery at the elbow to listen to the sound of blood returning to the artery as he slowly releases the pressure. The pressure reading when the sound began is noted as the systolic blood pressure, and it is determined by a heart contraction. The cuff pressure is further released and when no sound can be heard the value of the diastolic pressure is noted, specific to the hearth relaxation during two successive contractions.

Normal Ranges

The normal adult blood pressure is said to have values in the range between 90/60 to 119/79 for the systolic, respectively diastolic, measurement readings. If the value is somewhere in the range from 120/80 to 139/89 the person suffers from pre-hypertension and should be closely monitored. Blood pressure that is higher than the upper bound of the pre-hypertensic range is either type 1 or type 2 hypertension. If you have repeated measurement readings that are higher than the normal adult blood pressure than you should make lifestyle amendments and consult your physician for proper medication.