Normal blood pressure is relevant for blood flow to adapt to the needs of the human body. Each heartbeat propels blood to different parts of the body, and blood pressure ranges from high when it is close to the heart to low when it is away from it. The force of blood on the walls of the arteries is what is known as blood or arterial pressure. As a general rule, blood pressure is higher when the heart pumps more blood. And precisely to measure blood pressure or blood pressure there is a very useful instrument, the blood pressure monitor.
What is a blood pressure monitor, its types and parts
The blood pressure monitor, also known as a sphygmomanometer, is a medical instrument that establishes the indirect measurement of blood pressure. They exist of several types: mercury, digital and aneroid. This instrument consists of a cuff with an inflatable chamber, a graduated manometer, a tube that connects the manometer to a rubber bulb, and a valve that controls the air outlet.
Taking blood pressure is important to know how a person is in relation to their circulatory function.
How to measure tension correctly
The person should be sitting with their back supported by the back of a chair and with their arm rolled up. The monitor is then wrapped around the uncovered arm (the lower edge should be two centimeters above the elbow). The diaphragm of the stethoscope is then placed on the lower edge, exactly between the arm and the blood pressure monitor. Next, the tensiometer is inflated using the pear, in such a way that the meter reaches 180 millimeters of mercury. In the next step, the valve is slightly opened to allow the pressure to slowly drop. And as the pressure drops, the stethoscope is used to record the blood pressure reading (one value corresponds to the systolic pressure and another refers to the diastolic pressure). A normal blood pressure value would be 120 over 80 millimeters of mercury and if higher or lower levels are registered, a doctor should be consulted.
A painful instrument in its beginnings
Current blood pressure monitors (both manual and digital) do not cause any pain or discomfort. However, the first ones that appeared in the eighteenth century were really uncomfortable, since they used glass tubes connected to an artery. Over time, measuring probes were introduced into the main arteries. These invasive methods disappeared at the end of the 19th century, when blood pressure monitors as we now know them were introduced.
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