What is “blood pressure”?

What do the two numbers mean?

What is the relevance for exercising?

What is blood pressure? This is literally the amount of pressure that the blood is exerting on the inside of your artery walls as it is being pumped out if your heart.
Your heart is a pump and it pumps the blood out of the left side of your heart into a major artery ( called the Aorta) to be distributed throughout the body. Like any pump, the heart produces pressure to push the blood around the body and it is this pressure that is inside your arteries that is measured. Just like pumping water through a hose , the pump is the heart, the water is the blood and the hose is your artery.
These days there are electronic machines to measure blood pressure but where a stethoscope and a measuring gauge is used it is called a sphygmomanometer.
What do the two numbers mean ? E.g. 120/70. When the heart pumps and pushes the blood out into your arteries this is the highest amount of pressure that is in your blood vessels and is the top/higher number in your reading and is called your Systolic pressure. As the heart is a pump it has to refill after pumping the blood out and it is during this refilling stage that there is a lull or low pressure and this is the smaller/bottom number in your reading and is called your Diastolic pressure.
Your blood pressure is usually measured on your upper left arm, as the blood leaves the heart on the left side and this is the closest we can get to the major artery that takes the blood out of your heart.
A healthy blood pressure reading is considered to be around 120/70 but your doctor can advise you what is healthy for your circumstances.
What is the danger of high blood pressure? Like any hose or pipe your arteries are designed to cope with a certain amount of pressure and if it becomes too much there is the possibility one may burst. This could be a burst blood vessel in the brain or on the heart itself which can have dire consequences. Our arteries have an elastic capability which allows them to stretch to cope with the fluctuations in blood pressure however as we get older this elasticity is reduced which reduces their capability to cope with blood pressure fluctuations. This is one of the factors of ageing that increases our blood pressure as we get older.
What are the signs of high blood pressure? There aren’t any external or outward signs of high blood pressure that is why it is wise to have it checked regularly. The only way to know what your blood pressure is is to have it measured. There are several causes of high blood pressure but that is a topic for another time.
What is the relevance of blood pressure to exercise? The intensity and duration of exercise/activity will influence the increase in blood pressure. If you have a healthy resting blood pressure it will take more effort to get your pressure up to a high level where as if your resting blood pressure is already elevated then you won’t need to do much to get it to a high level. In a nutshell, healthy blood pressure gives you a higher ceiling to play with. Usually the top number increases significantly with activity and the bottom number pretty well stays the same or increases slightly.
There are exercise guidelines for people with high blood pressure and one is to always have your head as the highest point e.g. avoid lying down and doing sit ups and exercises where your hands are above your head.
Is your pulse or heart rate related to your blood pressure? Taking your pulse on your neck or wrist is not the same as measuring your blood pressure. You can have a normal pulse/heart rate but still have high blood pressure. The only way to know your blood pressure is to have it checked and this can be done by your personal trainer or doctor.