Health and Fitness Calculators
Mean Arterial Pressure
Mean Arterial Pressure (MAP) can be estimated using your Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure and represents the average blood pressure in the arteries. It is a better approximation of blood pressure than the individual systolic and diastolic readings.
If you track Blood Pressure online or within FitnessSyncer Notebook, FitnessSyncer will automatically calculate the MAP and graph it over time to help you see how the changes in your exercise and diet are affecting your blood pressure.
Based on the above, your Mean Arterial Pressure is 0. A MAP of greater than 60 is considered good.
How it works
Mean arterial pressure is a weighted average of your two blood pressure readings rather than a plain one, because the heart spends about twice as long relaxed as it does contracting. The diastolic reading therefore counts twice and the systolic once.
MAP = (2 × diastolic + systolic) ÷ 3
A reading of 120 over 80 gives (2 × 80 + 120) ÷ 3, which is 93 mmHg.
What this number is not
It is not a replacement for the two readings it came from, and it is not a diagnosis. Two people with very different systolic pressures can share a mean arterial pressure, so a clinician looks at all three numbers together.
How accurate it is
The weighted formula assumes a resting heart rate somewhere near 60 to 80 beats a minute. At a much faster heart rate the heart spends proportionally less time relaxed, so the real average sits above what this calculator reports.
Common questions
What is a normal mean arterial pressure?
A figure above 60 mmHg is generally taken as enough to keep the organs supplied, and most healthy adults at rest fall somewhere between 70 and 100. Your own normal matters more than the range, which is why FitnessSyncer charts yours over time.
Does FitnessSyncer calculate this for me?
Yes. Every blood pressure reading that arrives from a connected monitor, or that you log in the Notebook, gets a mean arterial pressure worked out from it, and you can chart it on your Dashboard like any other value.
Why does the diastolic reading count twice?
Because the heart spends roughly two thirds of each beat relaxed and one third contracting, so the lower pressure is what your arteries see for most of the time.
