What Raises Diastolic Blood Pressure?
Anyone who has seen blood pressure being recorded on paper must have seen two numbers. The first represents what is called as systolic blood pressure and the second number is called diastolic blood pressure. The heart contacts and relaxes during each heart beat. The systolic blood pressure is due to the contraction of the heart and the diastolic pressure. Diastolic pressure is the pressure during relaxation of the ventricular chambers of the heart. For example, with a blood pressure of 130/80 (“130 over 80”), the systolic pressure is 130 and the diastolic pressure is 80. By “130,” it is 130 mm Hg and by “80,” it is 80 mm Hg (millimeters of mercury).
