What Is Low Blood Pressure? The medical term used for indicating low blood pressure is Hypotension which means the blood pressure is less than 90/60 without any symptoms.

The reading of blood pressure is in form of 2 numbers. The first is systolic pressure measure which states the pressure retained in arteries while heart fills the arteries with blood. The 2nd number is used to measure the diastolic pressure which is the arteries pressure while the heart is under rest between successive beats. The normal blood pressure of a personal is under range of 120/80. For people like athletes, the low blood pressure indicates that they are healthy and the cardiovascular health (blood vessels and heart) is very good. But the reduced blood pressure can cause further problems particularly in people who are elder, which can cause the insufficient flow of blood in brain, heart and other important organs.

The chronic low pressure without any symptoms is not serious. When the blood pressure drops abruptly, then serious health problems can happen since brain gets deprived of the required supply of blood. This can cause lightheadedness and dizziness. The sudden blood pressure drop can happen with people who rise from a sitting posting to stand. This type of low pressure in blood is called as postural hypotension or orthostatic hypotension.

This type of hypotension is thought as the failure of the nervous system which is a portion of the central nervous system which is takes care of the vital involuntary actions like heartbeat and other reflex actions. Usually when we stand up, the blood goes down to lower appendages. If not corrected, this can lead to fall of blood pressure. But the body usually balances this by sending some alert messages to our heart, for beating faster and also to the blood vessels for constricting themselves. This causes the blood pressure drop. If this happens very slowly, it can lead to postural hypotension.

The risk of high pressure and low pressure usually rises with age because of the standard modifications that take place in our body during aging. Also, blood flow to the brain reduced with age, which is due to the buildup of plaque in the blood vessels. Around ten to twenty percent of people above the age of sixty have are said to have postural hypotension.

Reasons behind Postural Hypotension

The cause of postural hypotension is not clear always. It could be linked with below reasons,

• Pregnancy in women
• Problems related to hormone like Thyroid, overactive thyroid, low sugar in blood, diabetes.
• Excessive medications
• Over dosage of the pressure medicines.
• Heart arrhythmias (unnatural cardiac rhythms)
• Heart failure
• Dilation or widening, of the blood vessels
• Heat stroke or Heat exhaustion
• Diseases related to liver

Reasons for Sudden Blood Pressure Drop

Sudden reduction of blood pressure can be dangerous. The reasons which can lead to hypotension include,

• Blood loss through bleeding
• Low temperature or High temperature of our Body
• Diseases related to heart muscles leading to heart failure
• Sepsis, a grave disease related to blood
• Severe dehydration caused due to fever, vomiting or diarrhea.
• Alcohol reaction
• Anaphylaxis, a dangerous allergic reaction