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A member asked:
What is the difference between systolic and diastolic pressure?
2 doctors weighed in across 2 answers
Systolic is higher: Systolic blood pressure (the top number) occurs when the heart contracts. Diastolic blood pressure (the lower number) is the lowest level to which the blood pressure falls between two heart contractions.
Answered 7/20/2012
6.4k views
Heart cycle: The heart is a pump that works in a cycle. Each heart beat has 2 components: systole when heart contracts to pump blood and diastole when heart relaxes to fill with blood. That is why each blood pressure measurement has 2 numbers: the upper one is systolic blood pressure and lower one is diastolic blood pressure.
Answered 1/22/2016
5.2k views
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