MAP: Mean Arterial Pressure
Blood pressure is an ever-changing aspect of human physiology and biology. It is rare for a person to have a blood pressure that remains the same throughout the day. In fact, it is downright impossible. Simply because, for the most part, we all eat, stand, breathe, move, etc. multiple times throughout the day. Each time we perform one of these actions, our blood pressure changes. It reacts to a change in position, a change in movement, and it is always doing so on a continuous basis. However, it is important that doctors and other medical officials have a number to place by a person that relates to blood pressure because it is impossible for blood pressure to be taken continuously throughout the day. This is where the mean arterial pressure comes into play. This is, basically, the average value for a person’s blood pressure, which will stand for the person’s health and blood pressure on an average day.
There are many reasons that a mean arterial pressure is taken and recorded for a person. Not all of these relate to health. In fact, the mean arterial pressure is known to be part of a couple of biological processes that do not necessarily indicate a health problem. For example, when arterial blood flows through the body it is usually headed somewhere specific. Much of the time, blood is pumped through arteries and deposited in beds of capillaries that run across the surface of various organs, giving them the nutritional substances they need in order to operate. This perfusion pressure, as it is called, is thought to actually be the mean arterial pressure.
In order for the mean arterial pressure to allow an organ to operate correctly, it needs to be at around 60 mmHg. This is enough to sustain an organ for the average person as long as it remains at this value. However, if the value falls below this average, that means there is not enough blood pumping into the organ, which will cause the organ to become ischemic. This will result in tissue damage to the organ, so it is very important that the mean arterial pressure be checked and calculated on a fairly regular basis. Health officials usually make it a habit to calculate the value of a person’s mean arterial pressure whenever they take a person’s blood pressure. It is just one of the many calculations made in conjunction with blood pressure that makes sure a person’s body is running smoothly and healthily.
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