Glossary
The NORAH glossary provides brief and clear explanations of technical terms and abbreviations. Can’t find the term you were looking for? Then simply get in touch with us via the contact form.
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Systolic and diastolic
Blood pressure is usually recorded with two values. The higher value is the so-called systolic blood pressure. This measures the pressure in the arteries when the heart muscle contracts and presses the blood out of the heart chambers. The systolic blood pressure is, therefore, the pumping performance of the heart. The diastolic blood pressure is the phase in which the heart muscle relaxes and the heart chambers fill up with blood.