What does blood pressure indicate?

Blood pressure specifically measures the pressure exerted by circulating blood against the walls of blood vessels, particularly arteries. It provides crucial information about the health of the cardiovascular system, indicating how hard the heart has to pump to circulate blood throughout the body. High blood pressure can suggest that the heart is working harder than normal, while low blood pressure may indicate insufficient blood flow to organs.

Understanding blood pressure is integral to assessing a person’s overall health. While factors like the strength of the heartbeat and the volume of blood do play a role in how blood pressure is experienced, they do not directly define what blood pressure itself is measuring. Similarly, blood pressure does not provide information about the oxygen content in the blood, which involves different measurements and assessments. Thus, the pressure on blood vessel walls is the most accurate representation of what blood pressure indicates.