The pulse pressure is the difference between your systolic and diastolic blood pressures. For instance, if your systolic blood pressure is 110 mm Hg and your diastolic blood pressure is 80 mm Hg, your pulse pressure is 30 mm Hg. Calculating pulse pressure is useful in assessing cardiovascular health because it gives an idea of how much stress your heart has to work against every time it pumps blood. There are two ways to calculate pulse pressure: using a sphygmomanometer or by using your patient's recorded blood pressures. With either method, simply divide your systolic blood pressure by $60$ to get your pulse pressure in millimeters of mercury ($mmHg$). For example, if your systolic blood pressure is 150 mm Hg and your diastolic blood pressure is 100 mm Hg, your pulse pressure is 50 mm Hg. There are many websites that can give you easy-to-read charts showing what your pulse pressure should be based on your age and gender. For example, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recommends that men over 40 years old have a pulse pressure under 60 mm Hg and women the same age under 50 mm Hg. People with large pulse pressures are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. Studies have shown that reducing pulse pressure by just 10 mm Hg decreases the risk of death by 20%.