Eli5: how does the blood pressure cuff determine your blood pressure so accurately?
In: 200
Systolic, or the “big/top number” – you apply so much pressure, no blood can get through. Then you release slowly, watching the pressure on the dial “tick” down, and at the very TOP of its pressure, the blood can spurt past the pressure. This makes a noise that you can hear with a stethoscope. The first “tick” with an associated spurt is the systolic pressured or the peak pressure generated by your hearts contraction. (Or you can cheat and feel their pulse. Don’t do this, young health professionals out there)
Diastolic, or the “bottom/little number” – you watch the pressure spikes “tick” down on the dial. The first “tick” that has no spurt noise associated with it is the residual pressure in the artery when the heart is resting.
I hope this was ELI5 enough.
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