Blood pressure is the pressure your blood exerts on the walls of your arteries. The fluid dynamics of blood play a major role in blood pressure. The heart is the pump that moves the blood throughout the body, with vessels carrying the blood to different sections of the body.

The device used to measure blood pressure is the sphygmomanometer. It is placed around the upper arm, inflated, and then deflated, while a meter measures the pressure passing through that section of the arm and either a person using a stethoscope or an electronic sensor detects the pulse.