If your blood pressure is low, you might feel dizzy. Low blood pressure can happen after you eat when you stand up, or because you are shocked or stressed.
Every time your heart beats, your blood pushes against your arteries. Blood pressure is the force of your blood against your artery walls.
Your blood pressure goes up and down because of things you do every day, like sleeping and moving around.
Hypotension is the term used by doctors to describe low blood pressure. Blood pressure is measured in two ways: when your heart beats and when your heart is at rest.
Systolic pressure, also called systole, is the amount of blood that flows through your arteries when your heart's ventricles squeeze. During systole, your body gets blood.
Diastolic pressure, also called diastole, is a measurement of the time when the heart is not beating. Diastole fills the coronary arteries with blood, which goes to your heart.
The reading of your blood pressure is made up of two numbers: the systolic number and the diastolic number. Most of the time, having a blood pressure of less than 120/80 is a good thing.
But sometimes low blood pressure can make you feel tired or lightheaded. In these situations, low blood pressure can be a sign of something else wrong that needs to be treated.
A blood pressure reading of less than 90/60 is called hypotension in adults. Low blood pressure is put into different groups based on when and why it happens.