Many people are confused about how blood pressure and pulse are related. These are actually two different numbers that measure completely different things. It helps to understand the difference when you are ready to take care of your health.
Blood pressure is the measurement of blood pushing against the walls of your blood vessels. This is measured with an instrument called a sphygmomanometer (the top images is a link to Amazon). The actual units of measurement are millimeters of mercury or mmHg.
Normal healthy blood pressure measures about 120/80 mmHg. This tells you that you have enough pressure for blood to move through smoothly, but it’s not so high that it can lead to heart disease.
Your pulse rate is the number of times your heart beats in a minute. Rather than listening to your heart directly, you can feel your pulse rate in several parts of the body. The two most common places are the carotid pulse and the radial pulse.
The carotid pulse is taken in the neck. This is where your carotid artery is. Blood pressure is high in this particular blood vessel and it’s close to the skin, so you can feel it with your fingers. You can also use the radial pulse found in the wrist.
Your pulse is measured in beats per minute or bpm. There’s a wide range of what can be considered normal. It can be anywhere from 60-90 bpm. Now the question is, how are these two numbers related?
The answer is that blood pressure and pulse may not be related. There’s no correlation between these two numbers that’s the same for everyone. You can have a normal heart rate and high or low blood pressure and you can have a high heart rate and normal blood pressure.
When you participate in physical activity, your heart rate rises much faster than your blood pressure rate. Both numbers give you information about the health of your heart, but they do not relate to each other in any specific way.
You want to work to keep your blood pressure normal which can be done through diet, exercise, supplements, and medications. You also want to keep your heart rate normal and the best way to do that is typically through exercise.
While these two numbers are not related, they are both important. To have overall good heart health you need to pay attention to both blood pressure and pulse – just not necessarily with how they interact together.
How to check your Resting Heart Rate and Blood Pressure?
Check to see if you are in the healthy range for your resting heart rate and blood pressure.
Healthy resting heart rate 60-100 bpm
Low (hypotension) less than 90S less than 60D
Normal less than 130S less than 85D
High Normal 130-139S 85-89D
Mild hypertension 1400-159S 90-99D
Moderate hypertension 160-179S 100-109D
Severe Hypertension greater than 180S greater than 110D
Thank you for stopping by and reading my post "The Difference Between Your Blood Pressure and Your Pulse". Hope you found it beneficial, the images are links to that product on amazon.
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