However, if either the upper or lower number is elevated, your internist can make a diagnosis of high blood pressure, according to the American Heart Association. While both numbers are very important, physicians examine the top number as a major risk factor, and may-depending upon the individual situation-give more attention to it.

The diastolic number measures the pressure when the heart is at rest.

The systolic blood pressure shows how much pressure your blood pushes against your arteries during a heartbeat.

An easy way to remember it is that both diastolic and down begin with “d.” For example, if your doctor says your blood pressure is “120 over 80,” the first number, 120, is the systolic number, and the second number of your blood pressure reading is the diastolic number (80 in this example). The second number is the diastolic number. One is the systolic number (the upper number).

When one of our doctors measures your blood pressure, he or she will give you two numbers. What do the numbers on your blood pressure reading mean? The blood then gathers carbon dioxide and returns to the heart through the veins where the process starts over again. The arteries send blood throughout your body’s network of capillaries, where it releases nutrients. Then the ventricles pump, sending oxygen-rich blood to the arteries. When the heart relaxes, blood flows from the atria to the ventricles.

Your heart consists of four chambers: the left and right atrium (which are the upper chambers) and the left and right ventricle (the lower chambers). Following is a simplified version of how it works. Your circulatory system is an amazing, complicated and efficient way your body delivers oxygen and nutrients to every part of your body.

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