What is blood pressure? State the normal systolic and diastolic values and name the instrument used to measure it.

Blood pressure is the pressure the blood exerts on the walls of the arteries. In a healthy adult it is about 120 mm of mercury during ventricular systole and about 80 mm during diastole, written as 120/80. It is measured with a sphygmomanometer.

No citable source has been recorded for this record. Treat it as practice material, not as fact.

Explanation

A sustained reading well above these values is hypertension.