When unconscious what happens to blood pressure and pulse rate?

I was told your pulse rate gets slower which causes your blood pressure to get higher? But that doesn’t seem right to me?
Thanks :)

That pattern of rise in blood pressure and slowing of the pulse rate is only likely if the unconsciousness is due to a rise in the pressure inside the skull, perhaps as the result of a head injury. The rise in blood pressure is the body’s attempt to push more blood into the swollen brain, and the slowing of the pulse is the body’s response (in a different department) to the high blood pressure. In other forms of unconsciousness the patterns are different, but generally involve drops in blood pressure with compensating rises in the pulse rate.

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4 Responses to When unconscious what happens to blood pressure and pulse rate?

  1. newtprincess says:

    Your body goes unconscious because it wants to maintain healthy conditions (for example, you would black out if you stopped breathing so that your body could make you start breathing again). Your heart rate would drop when you got knocked out and then rise as you regain consciousness.
    References :
    AP Bio

  2. Sunny says:

    If you are passing out from dehydration etc, your blood pressure will drop to the point that you cannot stay alert and your heart rate would be increasing to try and keep the pressure higher. Once you pass out, your body is in a different position so it is easier for the heart to pump blood to your head and the pressure goes up (heart isn’t pumping against gravity) so the pulse goes down and pressure can increase.
    References :

  3. Peter H says:

    That pattern of rise in blood pressure and slowing of the pulse rate is only likely if the unconsciousness is due to a rise in the pressure inside the skull, perhaps as the result of a head injury. The rise in blood pressure is the body’s attempt to push more blood into the swollen brain, and the slowing of the pulse is the body’s response (in a different department) to the high blood pressure. In other forms of unconsciousness the patterns are different, but generally involve drops in blood pressure with compensating rises in the pulse rate.
    References :
    BSc physiology

  4. catlover says:

    It didn’t sound right to me when I first learned it in Paramedic school. The reason blood pressure increases when pulse decreases is the heart’s trying to make up for a slow pulse by pumping more blood into the system. The blood pressure rises, b/c it’s a natural response to an increase of blood in the system.
    I hope that helped.
    References :
    Paramedic, EKG Technician