Blood pressure

The pressure created by the heart’s pumping power and the resisting of blood vessels. When the heart contracts it creates the systolic or top blood pressure number. The diastolic pressure, the bottom blood pressure number, is the resting pressure between heart contractions. The ideal, healthy blood pressure is lower than 135/85. It is written as systolic/diastolic and reported in mm, which is the height of a column of mercury that was originally used for measurement blood pressure. It is abbreviated as BP.