Regulation of Blood Pressure? Dr. Shriniwas Kashalikar

We are taught that throughout undergraduate and postgraduate medical career, that heart rate and blood pressure are regulated.

But is this true? and if this is true, on what basis a set point for these is decided?

The answer to these questions is:

What is regulated is the oxygen supply to the tissues on moment to moment basis according to their changing needs.. This decides the need of blood supply to different tissues and this decides the heart rate, stroke output, peripheral resistance and cardiac output. In turn, this decides the blood pressure.

In short, heart rate and blood pressure are not primarily regulated but get "regulated" as a byproduct of the regulation of oxygen supply to tissues, with priority to the oxygen needs of the vital organs.

It appears therefore, that use of terms such as "regulation of heart rate" and "regulation of blood pressure" would be eventually discarded and replaced by "Regulation of cardiovascular function to serve the oxygen needs of tissues".