120/80

The doctor places the cuff on your hand and grips it tight around your arm, ready to inflate. You feel the pressure build up as it measures the force of the blood pumping through the walls of your arteries. The machine stops crunching your arm and the cuff loosens. The numbers on the screen start to appear in front of your eyes. The red dots light up as you become concerned. The number repeats in your head as the doctor states them. 

 

Now, what was this number? Well, the question right now is: what does this number mean to you? 

It plays the role of having your happy family with their laughter bringing up your mood after a long day. It plays the role in your social life, impacting the ones around you through your own mood and actions. It plays the role of you living a healthy life or one filled with health complications. It plays the role of determining whether you live or not.

 

The idea of this is for you to realize how you have to get as close to the essential golden number of 120/80 to live a healthy life. Your goal should be to not get high above it or too much under it. But what does this number mean exactly?

 

The systolic number (the one on the top– numerator) represents the force of blood in the arteries as the heart beats and pumps blood into them. The diastolic (the bottom number – denominator) represents the pressure of blood in the arteries when the heart is at rest/ between beats. Your blood pressure needs to show signs of the heart efficiently pumping blood through the arteries.

 

You now know what the normal blood pressure reading is considered as, but you still can’t think between the various categories of age, diet, gender, lifestyle, medical history, and genetics of which one you fall into for having a varying blood pressure. 

 

You might be wondering then: How I can I get this golden number of 120/80? Well, prevention is better than cure. The right thing to do is to: follow a healthy diet, maintain a healthy weight, exercise regularly, avoid tobacco/ excessive alcohol consumption, get good sleep, and manage your stress. Over time, you’ll begin to feel better, both physically and mentally with the consistent readings.

 

This sets an example for the myriad amounts of people facing the constant struggle of achieving the normal blood pressure of 120/80, but shows how it can be maintained through healthy habits and taking care of your body helping both yourself, and the ones around you.