Before going into detail about the normal blood pressure for women, one must understand what actually is meant by blood pressure. When the blood flows through the arteries, it exerts pressure on the walls of the arteries which is known as blood pressure. Why is blood pressure created? The heart is the blood pumping organ of the body. It pumps blood into the arteries forcefully and this creates pressure. It is to withstand his forceful pushing of blood that arteries have thicker walls. While measuring blood pressure, it is measured as systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure. When the heart contracts during a heartbeat, it forcefully pushes the blood into the arteries and this is the higher level systolic pressure. Soon after the systolic stage, the heart relaxes and the diastolic blood pressure is measured.
There is predefined normal blood pressure for women level ranges for both systolic and diastolic and this has to be maintained. The general normal blood pressure for women & men value is between 120/80. This value is defined in mm/hg and the higher first figure is the systolic blood pressure and the second is the diastolic pressure. Normal Blood pressure for women is measured using a sphygmomanometer a device which constitutes a pressure pump and mercury reading. While using the traditional sphygmomanometer, it is essential to use a stethoscope. With the latest blood pressure monitoring devices you can perform the pressure checks at the comfort of your home without help from anyone. The pressure is displayed in the digital display screen and some of them also indicate if the level is high or low. This makes it easy to know the blood pressure status even if you do not have any good idea about the normal blood pressure for women.
There are several factors based on which the normal blood pressure for women changes. In some cases, women experience high blood pressure from the normal range after a certain age. The average blood pressure range rises to 129/85 at about 50 years of age. Age wise pressure change charts can be of use in such cases. This is because with the increase in age, the elasticity and strength of the arterial wall becomes weaker.
Normal Blood Pressure for Women
By the time of menopause, several hormonal changes take place in the body of women. The oestrogen and progesterone levels fall in the post-menopausal period and thus they have been identified to have 5mmHg increase from the normal blood pressure for women. It has also been noticed after several researches that in the pre-menopausal period, women tend to have lower blood pressure levels than men of the same age. This is an adaptation by the hormonal play whereby the females can withstand the excessive stress.
Normal Blood Pressure for Women
Preeclampsia is the condition occurring in pregnant females where their blood pressure rises beyond the normal blood pressure for women. The actual cause of preeclampsia is not yet known, but this has been found to be a common occurrence with the levels going beyond 140/90. Hormonal changes occurring during menstrual periods can also sometimes lead to blood pressure changes from the normal blood pressure for women, but has been found to be not much significant.