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At any given point in time your blood pressure varies between the maximum and the minimum pressure known as systolic and diastolic respectively. When the heart is in between beats and is at rest your blood pressure falls as the blood moves away from the heart and is sent to the others organs of the body through the arteries, at this time, fresh blood fills the chambers ready for the next beat; this is known as diastolic pressure while the pressure is highest when the heart is actually pumping the blood out. This is known as systolic pressure.

Your blood pressure is usually expressed as two numbers; of these the first number is systolic pressure and the second number is diastolic pressure. So a blood pressure reading of 120/80 indicates a systolic pressure of 120 and a diastolic pressure of 80. A person’s blood pressure is usually measured at the upper arm, checking the blood flow through the brachial artery that lies at the inside of the elbow. This is the major blood vessel of the upper arm responsible for carrying blood away from the heart. However, sometimes BP can also be measured at the ankle and with emerging technologies; we can now measure blood pressure at several points in the body.