Blood Pressure Variabilities

[godslyric]

Dose anyone know what range of normal BP readings are say between lying down and standing, or the norms between sitting and walking around. If your BP is 125/80 sitting, what should the reading be when you are up moving around. I realize BP bounces up n down all day. But in a normal body what would be the point range difference between sitting and say walking to the car. difference of 20/10 maybe??? I could never seem to find a site with these kinds of comparisons.

[potsgirl]

I know that from lying to standing, a normal BP would stay about the same or decrease about 10 points in the systolic number, while the diastolic would perhaps go up a couple to about 10 points. You can find this on the homepage of this site, under POTS Overview (click on the Overview you see on the first page to get to more detailed info.) Of course, most of us POTSies don't have this type of fluctuation!

cheers,

Jana

[erik]

The classic heart ranges are for sitting after a bit of rest, IIRC. Here is a site with an over-abundance of information, charts & graphs!

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/medicine/blood-pressure.htm

However, keep in mind those ranges are applied to an overall average. For example, one is not hypertensive during just one high reading... that is a misapplication of the term "hypertensive". Actual BP will vary a decent bit even for a normal person (without a dysautonomia) and can do so throughout the day even during similar circumstance & activity.

This article offers a summary drawn from a Streeten book (a late OH expert and CFS guy) regarding supine vs. standing ranges & responses:

To put the study's findings in context, here is a quick review of the normal pulse and blood pressure, drawn from Dr. Streeten's book on orthostatic hypotension.

Normal Systolic Blood Pressure (sBP; the higher number in a blood pressure measurement):

Recumbent: 100-142

Standing (after 4 minutes): 94-141

Orthostatic change, if any: -19 to +11

Normal Diastolic Blood Pressure (dBP; the lower number in a blood pressure measurement):

Recumbent: 55-90

Standing (after 4 minutes): 61-97

Orthostatic change, if any: -6 to +22

Normal Pulse Pressure (the difference between the systolic and diastolic pressures):

No known norms

Orthostatic change, if any: Difference narrows to 18 mmHg (millimeters of mercury) or lower

Normal Pulse

Recumbent: 54-96

Standing (after 4 minutes): 62-108

Orthostatic change, if any: -6 to +27

Bell noted that when a normal person stands up, the pulse may or may not rise slightly; the blood pressure usually remains stable (a graph of the systolic and diastolic numbers is notable for its constancy - a "band" that stays the same size); and the pulse pressure (the difference between the sBP and dBP) remains constant, not surprising since the systolic and diastolic remain steady.

The reference came up in an old post on this forum.

Light exertion is going to vary tremendously from person to person. Generally being "well conditioned" would imply a lower resting heart rate, a lower rate while exerting, as well as a tendency toward widening of pulse pressure (the difference between systolic & diastolic) indicative of "more efficient" cardiac effort as opposed to simply "greater effort" or even struggling. That widening of pulse pressure can mean that the heart is moving more blood even though systolic blood pressure and heart rate don't make it look like extra effort is expended.

For pulse, this graph can give a very approximate idea of a "light exertion" zone for various ages (by approximating resting & max heart rates rather than measuring them):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Exercise_zones.png

Not sure about BP ranges with light exertion... I'm sure that will vary significantly. My understanding is that exertion does tend to raise BP.

[Guest tearose]

Goodness....what the heck is normal??? Who is normal?

I suppose you can look to the statistics but how does that help you? Why in the world would you think you could ever get to normal???

If it helps, my healthy husband seems to have nearly the same bp all the time. Even his heartrate is steady at around 62.

Obnixiously normal I suppose...