Question

what is the difference between diastolic and systolic pressure?
(a) 40
(b) 60
(c) 80
(d) 120

Answer 1

Hint: The highest pressure that your heart exerts when beating (systolic pressure) is the top amount. The bottom number is the amount of pressure between beats (diastolic pressure) in your arteries.

Complete step by step answer:
There are two stages of the cardiac cycle called diastole and systole. They occur when the heart beats, pumping blood to any part of the body through a series of blood vessels that carry blood. Systole occurs as the heart contracts to pump blood out, and diastole occurs after contraction when the heart relaxes.
The main determinant determining diastole and systole length is heart rate. Systole is related to heart rate in a linear way, with the ejection time inversely related to heart rate. Diastole has a more complex heart rate relationship and, at low heart rates, is longer.
When the heart is pumping blood, the systolic pressure reflects the blood pressure against the vessel walls. It is the most significant indicator of cardiovascular conditions, such as stroke and heart disease, beginning at around age 60. Your systolic blood pressure, which is within a fine range, can make you feel very good.
As the heart relaxes between beats, diastolic pressure tests the force exerted by blood against vessel walls, which is why it's the lower of the two blood pressure figures. Our arteries get a little stiff with age. As a result, each time the heartbeats, they don't spread out as much, so more blood is forced right on into the larger arteries into smaller ones. Since there's less blood during heartbeats in the large arteries, diastolic pressure appears to decrease.
So, the correct answer is ‘40’.

Additional information: Pulse pressure is called the difference between these two readings. In general, the systole is 120mmhg and the diastole is 80mmhg so, the pulse pressure is 120-80=40mmhg. Pulse pressure can be thought of as the difference between the blood pressure peaks (systole) and valleys (diastole) . Older people with stiffer arteries appear to have a wider difference, usually because the systolic pressure increases while the diastolic pressure remains the same or decreases a little, and hence a higher pulse pressure.

Note: High pulse pressure is often referred to as wide pulse pressure. This is because the systolic and diastolic pressure have a wide or broad difference. A minor difference between the systolic and diastolic pressure is low pulse pressure.