What Is Hypotension?

When it comes to medical information about managing blood pressure, the overwhelming majority warns about the dangers of hypertension, commonly known as high blood pressure. High blood pressure, after all, puts an individual at an increased risk of heart disease, heart attacks, and other serious health conditions. Unfortunately, forgetting about the other end of the spectrum, hypotension, offers its own serious health risks. Curious about what hypotension is, how to treat it, and what can be done to prevent it? Learn everything there is to know now.

What Is Hypotension?

Before diving into what hypotension is, it is worth mentioning blood pressure measures the force of the blood pushing against artery walls as the heart pumps out blood. The pressure is typically written with the systolic number, when the heart beats while pumping out blood, on top and the diastolic number, when the heart is resting between beats, on the bottom. For example, a blood pressure reading would be 120/80 mmHg. The first number is systolic and the second is diastolic. The mmHg is the units used to measure blood pressure: millimeters of mercury.

Hypertension, as previously mentioned, means high blood pressure. Thus, many may have guessed hypotension refers to low blood pressure, specifically abnormally low blood pressure, usually lower than 90/60 mmHg. The reason hypotension gets less attention is the majority believes low blood pressure is healthy since these individuals are at a much lower risk of developing complications associated with high blood pressure. However, low blood pressure is still quite dangerous.

Often, doctors will mention hypotension is worth concern only when patients begin exhibiting symptoms. Keep reading to discover what these worrying symptoms are.