Normal Range of Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is the pressure that the flow of blood exerts on the arteries. When the heart beats and pumps blood, it faces a certain amount of pressure. When you use a monitor to measure the blood pressure of more than one person of the same age group, blood pressure readings usually vary.

Blood pressure is measured in terms of both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The systolic pressure is the pressure that the blood exerts when the heart beats. The diastolic blood pressure is measure between each heart beat.

Both the systolic and diastolic pressure taken together provides a blood pressure reading. In a blood pressure reading of 130/90, 130 denotes the systolic pressure, whereas 90 denotes diastolic blood pressure

Although the clinical definition of normal blood pressure is 120/80, blood pressure measurement is still an area of research. That is why it is said that there is no hard and fast rule for reading blood pressure measurements. This is especially true in the case of low blood pressure readings. A blood pressure reading that denotes low blood pressure in one person may not do so for another person.

There is a consensus that 110/70 and 125/80 should be considered to be the normal blood pressure ranges. If you consult medical literature you may get a different picture. Certain schools of thought consider 100/60 as the normal blood pressure range for many people. This may differ according to race, age or gender.

For instance it has also been found that the normal blood pressure range for the African race is usually higher than that of the white races. In addition normal blood pressure may vary for kids of the same age, but of different height and weight.

It can be safely said that a blood pressure reading of 140/90 is considered to be indicative of high blood pressure.