Normal Blood Pressure
 We all strive to keep a normal blood pressure, but that is not always possible for everyone. Some people have either low or high blood pressure.
Normal blood pressure should be in the range of 90/60 to 120/80. Anything outside this range is not a normal blood pressure reading. There are ways you can strive to keep a normal blood pressure but you must first understand how your own body maintains a normal blood pressure. To put it in easy terminology, blood pressure is the flow of the blood that makes it to your heart and then it is pumped out to the rest of your vital organs. The body works to keep the blood pressure at a normal range by using sensors that are in the walls of the arteries and in the heart. These sensors can sense what the blood pressure is and then send signals to the arterioles, the veins, the kidneys and the heart to alert them of any change. Then in order to maintain a normal blood pressure these vital organs make changes to compensate for the blood pressure they are receiving to aid in maintaining a normal blood pressure. The ways these vital organs change is that the heart adjusts the amount of blood being pumped in the arteries, the amount of blood that is held in the veins, the arteriolar resistance and the volume of blood that is being sent to maintain a normal blood pressure. The heart can speed up, slow down, or eject more blood as needed to maintain a normal blood pressure. The veins also do their part by expanding or narrowing as needed as well as the arterioles. The kidneys have their own way of reacting by increasing or decreasing the amount of urine they produce. The more urine the kidneys produce the more blood is needed to flow through them, if they reduce the amount of urine produced it will lower the pressure maintaining a normal blood pressure. In some individuals, one of these vital organs may not be doing their job to maintain a normal blood pressure. When this occurs the blood pressure can be either too low or too high. With either of these conditions a physician can prescribe medications that can help these organs function properly to maintain normal blood pressure. Other ways of maintaining normal blood pressure is to eat nutritional foods that are low in salt, fat and cholesterol, exercise regularly, do not smoke, do not indulge in excessive amounts of alcoholic beverages, and take any prescribed medications for diabetes. Visit your physician regularly to be sure that you still have a normal blood pressure and if your lifestyle warrants any chances to ensure that your blood pressure will stay in a normal range.
Jim Shaw 
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