Nerdy Science Blog

Systolic blood pressure is the intracardiac pressure which is created by the systolic contraction of a cardiac chamber.

The word ‘systole’ indicates the contraction of heart chambers, which will cause the blood inside the chambers to move along the blood vessels to the various parts of our body. Both the atrial and ventricular of the heart undergo systole but in the case of discussing systolic blood pressure, the left ventricle of the heart will be the main object of discussion. When the systole of left ventricle happens, the blood will be pushed through the aortic valve into the aorta and then to its branches.

This pressure which is created by the systole could be measured by using a sphygmomanometer (the most common way) and will be reported in millimetres of mercury (mmHg). A highest arterial blood pressure will be reached during each ventricular cycle (at the beginning of the cycle). The range of normal systolic pressure is around 90 to 119 mmHg. High blood pressure means a systolic pressure of more than 140 mmHg. Isolated systolic high blood pressure is also possible. It often do not cause any symptoms but if left uncontrolled could lead ato stroke, heart attack, kidney damage, congestive heart failure and others ischaemic heart diseases.

Systolic pressure is not static. It undergoes changes when influenced by other factors such as stress, drugs, disease and exercise. The difference of systolic and diastolic pressures is called pulse pressure. Today, modern medicine found out that high diastolic pressure, high systolic pressure and high pulse pressure are risk factors that could cause persistent hypertension.

Besides hypertension, hypotension is also a medical concern. However, such condition are diagnosed mainly when the hypotension (low of blood pressure) causes symptoms such as fainting, dizziness and sometime even shock.

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