Health Digest provides the answer to this important question. When your blood pressure is high, too much force is exerted on the walls of your blood vessels. As the American Heart Association (AHA) points out, the tissues inside arteries are delicate, so high blood pressure over time can damage them. What does that mean for blood donation? Two numbers represent blood pressure. Systolic force refers to the flow of blood out of the heart and into the arteries. As the heart rests between beats, the diastolic force is created. The National Institute of Health Blood Bank recommends that your blood pressure cannot exceed 180 over 100 when you donate blood. Taking blood pressure medication does not prevent you from donating blood. According to the National Institute on Aging, high blood pressure is defined as 130 over 80 or higher, so many people with high blood pressure can still donate blood.
It is extremely important to donate blood. 4.5 million Americans need blood transfusions every year, or one every two seconds, which equals 43,000 pints of blood used every day, according to the Community Blood Center. In spite of the fact that 37% of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, only 10% do so. According to the American Red Cross, 6.8 million Americans donate blood each year, adding up to 13.6 million units of whole blood
