Mondo Knows Facts
Blood pressure records two phases of the heartbeat
The higher figure marks ventricular contraction and the lower figure marks relaxation Systolic pressure is the peak reached when the left ventricle squeezes blood into the aorta. Diastolic pressure is the trough measured as the ventricle refills and the arteries recoil. A reading of 120 over 80 means 120 millimetres of mercury at the peak and 80 at rest. It sits in Mondo's human body collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
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Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
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The heart feeds itself through coronary arteriesCardiac muscle takes its blood from branches that leave the aorta just above the valveStretch sensors in the neck steady blood pressureBaroreceptors in the carotid sinus and aortic arch report artery wall stretchThe kidneys take a quarter of every heartbeatThough they weigh little, the kidneys receive roughly a fifth to a quarter of cardiac outputThe autonomic system has accelerator and brake branchesSympathetic nerves mobilise the body for action while parasympathetic nerves restore calmA fetal heart starts beating around five weeksA cluster of cardiac cells begins contracting before the chambers are fully formedHeart cardiac muscle works continuously without fatigueSpecialised myocardial fibres generate rhythmic contractions throughout life
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Tags: blood-pressure, heart, arteries
Blood pressure records two phases of the heartbeat: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- The higher figure marks ventricular contraction and the lower figure marks relaxation. The figure is taken from NHLBI, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a human body fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Human Body shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.