(Pronounced dye-AS-tuh-lee) Diastole is the relaxation phase of the cardiac cycle, when the surge of blood pumped out from the ventricles has subsided and the pressure in your arteries is at it’s minimum. It comes from the Greek diastolē dilatation, from diastellein to expand.
When your blood pressure is being taken, your diastolic pressure (the second number) is the measure of the pressure in your arteries just before the next ventricular contraction, when the pressure is at it’s lowest.
