120/80 isn’t just a reading: What your blood pressure gap says about heart health

Understanding your blood pressure’s two numbers, systolic and diastolic, is crucial for assessing heart and blood vessel health. Systolic measures the heart’s pumping effort, while diastolic reflects pressure during relaxation, vital for heart muscle oxygenation. Age influences their significance, with diastolic being more predictive under 50 and systolic after 50 due to arterial stiffening.