What is blood pressure?

Blood pressure is the force of blood against the walls of the arteries in the heart and is measured in millimetres of mercury. Your heart pumps blood around the body through the arteries, by contracting and relaxing.

The pressure of blood flowing through the arteries varies at different times in the heartbeat cycle. Hence, there are two numbers recorded during a blood pressure reading, systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Systolic, the top number of your reading is the higher of the two and it measures the pressure in the arteries as the heart contracts or beats. Diastolic, the bottom and lower number measures the heart at rest when it's between heartbeats.

Blood pressure is measured using a sphygmomanometer, a device which consists of a stethoscope, arm cuff, dial, pump and valve.
The cuff is placed around your arm and pumped up to restrict the blood flow. Hearing how your pulse beats after the cuff is released allows a measurement to be taken on the measurement scale, giving an accurate reading of your blood pressure.The pressure is then slowly released as your pulse is checked using the stethoscope. The measurements are now typically made using digital sphygmomanometers, which use electrical sensors and are simpler to use.    

Normal blood pressure is having a systolic number of less than 120mmHg and  diastolic number less than 80mmHg('mmHg' s the unit used for measuring blood pressure. It stands for millimetres of mercury). This number would be read as 120/80. 
For example, if your doctor says your blood pressure is "130 over 90" or 130/90mmHg, it means you have a systolic pressure of 130mmHg and a diastolic pressure of 90mmHg.

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