Blood pressure "Blood pressure" is the force with which your heart pumps blood through the body. Occasional increases in blood pressure levels are not unusual. Hypertension is high blood pressure. When heart beats (contracts and relaxes) it pumps out a certain volume of blood. The maximum arterial pressure, measured in mm Hg, determines the systolic reading and the lowest reading of this pressure is called the diastolic pressure. It is widely accepted that a person having a reading of a systolic pressure of greater than/equal to 140 mm Hg and a diastolic pressure of greater than/equal to 90 mm Hg is considered to have high blood pressure. When such a