The Heart and Blood Vessels (blood pressure) Flashcards
What is blood pressure?
Blood pressure is the force exerted by the blood against the walls of the blood vessels (mainly arteries)
What is the force exerted by the blood against the walls of the blood vessels (mainly arteries) called?
Blood pressure
What type of pressure is the blood entering the aorta under?
It is under high pressure
Why is the blood entering the aorta under high pressure?
It is due to the contraction of the left ventricle
Where does the blood pass through from the aorta as it is gradually loses blood pressure?
Aorta to the arteries, arterioles, capillaries, venules, veins and back to the right atrium of the heart
What happens to the pressure of the blood as it passes from the aorta to the arteries, arterioles, capillaries, venules, veins and back to the right atrium of the heart?
The blood pressure falls
When recording blood pressure, what are medical professionals actually recording?
They are recording the pressure required to stop the flow of blood in the major artery in the upper arm
What are the two values that blood pressure are given in?
Systolic pressure
Diastolic pressure
Which of the two blood pressure readings is the higher value?
It is the systolic pressure
What is systolic pressure
The pressure of blood as a pulse as it passes through the artery (i.e. when the ventricles contract)
What is diastolic pressure?
This records the pressure when there is no pulse when the ventricles are not contracting
What is the typical blood pressure for a young adult?
It is about 120/80 mm of mercury/mm Hg
What is the unit used to record blood pressure?
mm of mercury or mm Hg
What are mm of mercury and mm Hg the units of measurement of?
Blood pressure
Does blood pressure values rise or fall with age?
They rise
