Download High Blood Pressure Monitor
Jenine Izaguirre
What do your blood pressure numbers mean?The only way to know if you have high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, is to have your blood pressure tested. Understanding your results is key to controlling high blood pressure.
Elevated blood pressure is when readings consistently range from 120-129 systolic and less than 80 mm Hg diastolic. People with elevated blood pressure are likely to develop high blood pressure unless steps are taken to control the condition.
Hypertension Stage 1 is when blood pressure consistently ranges from 130 to 139 systolic or 80 to 89 mm Hg diastolic. At this stage of high blood pressure, health care professionals are likely to prescribe lifestyle changes and may consider adding blood pressure medication based on your risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, or ASCVD, such as heart attack or stroke.
Hypertension Stage 2 is when blood pressure consistently is 140/90 mm Hg or higher. At this stage of high blood pressure, health care professionals are likely to prescribe a combination of blood pressure medications and lifestyle changes.
This stage of high blood pressure requires medical attention. If your blood pressure readings suddenly exceed 180/120 mm Hg, wait five minutes and then test your blood pressure again. If your readings are still unusually high, contact your health care professional immediately. You could be experiencing a hypertensive crisis.
If your blood pressure is higher than 180/120 mm Hg or you are experiencing signs of possible organ damage such as chest pain, shortness of breath, back pain, numbness/weakness, change in vision or difficulty speaking, do not wait to see if your pressure comes down on its own. Call 911.
Typically, more attention is given to systolic blood pressure (the first number) as a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease for people over 50. In most people, systolic blood pressure rises steadily with age due to the increasing stiffness of large arteries, long-term buildup of plaque and an increased incidence of cardiac and vascular disease.
The American Heart Association recommends home monitoring for all people with high blood pressure to help the health care professional determine whether treatments are working. Home monitoring, or self-measured blood pressure, is not a substitute for regular visits to your physician. If you have been prescribed medication to lower your blood pressure, don't stop taking your medication without consulting your health care professional, even if your blood pressure readings are in the normal range during home monitoring.
First, a health care professional wraps an inflatable cuff around your arm. The health care professional then inflates the cuff, which gently tightens on your arm. The cuff has a gauge on it that will measure your blood pressure.
The health care professional will slowly let air out of the cuff while listening to your pulse with a stethoscope and watching the gauge. This process is quick and painless. If using a digital or automatic blood pressure cuff, the health care professional will not need to use a stethoscope.
Talk with your health care team about how often you should have your blood pressure measured or when to measure it yourself. People who have high blood pressure may need to measure their blood pressure more often than people who do not have high blood pressure.
The American Heart Association (AHA) and other organizations recommend that people with high blood pressure monitor their blood pressure at home. Regularly checking blood pressure at home helps your care providers determine if treatment is working.
Most pharmacies, medical supply stores and some websites sell home blood pressure monitors. Experts recommend an automatic or electronic device. Your health care provider can help you pick the monitor that's best for you.
Some people with very large arms may not have access to a well-fitting upper arm cuff at home. If so, measuring blood pressure at the wrist or lower arm may be OK if used as directed and checked against measurements taken in your provider's office. For the most reliable blood pressure measurement, the American Heart Association recommends using a monitor with a cuff that goes around your upper arm, when available.
No matter what type of home blood pressure monitor you choose, proper use requires training and practice. Take the device to your health care provider to make sure the one you've chosen is the best fit for you. Learn to use the monitor correctly.
Contact your health care provider if you have any unusual increases in your blood pressure or if your blood pressure stays higher than usual. Ask your provider at what reading you should call the medical office right away.
If you have an electronic personal health record, you might choose to record your information using a computer or mobile device. This gives you the option of sharing your readings with your health care providers and family members. Some blood pressure monitors upload this data automatically.
If your blood pressure is well controlled, ask your health care provider how often you need to check it. You might be able to check it only once a day or less often. If you're just starting home monitoring or changing treatment, your provider might recommend checking blood pressure starting two weeks after treatment changes and a week before your next appointment.
Home blood pressure monitoring is not a substitute for medical visits. Home blood pressure monitors might not always be correct. Even if you get readings that are typical for you, don't stop or change your medications or your diet without talking to your care provider first. However, if continued home monitoring shows your blood pressure is under control, you might be able to make fewer medical visits.
The heart supplies the organs and tissues of the body with blood. With every beat, it pumps blood into the large blood vessels of the circulatory system. As the blood moves around the body, it puts pressure on the walls of the vessels. Blood pressure readings are made up of two values:
When taking your blood pressure for the first time, it makes sense to measure the blood pressure in both arms, because it's sometimes high on only one side. The values that are higher are always the ones used for assessing blood pressure. After that it is enough to measure the blood pressure only in the arm that produced the higher reading. A person is considered to have high blood pressure if the systolic value is over 140 mmHg, the diastolic value is over 90 mmHg, or if both are higher than these readings.
High blood pressure itself usually goes unnoticed. Only if it is extremely high can it sometimes result in symptoms like dizziness or trouble seeing. Over the long term, high blood pressure increases your risk of cardiovascular problems like heart attacks, strokes, and heart and kidney failure. So if you or your doctor think you have high blood pressure, it's important to have your blood pressure checked regularly. If the readings are repeatedly too high, there are several different ways of lowering your blood pressure and decreasing the risk of long-term health consequences.
It's important to measure blood pressure more than once because it fluctuates over the course of the day. It can also change due to things like physical exertion, stress, pain, or extreme heat or cold. But this kind of increase in blood pressure is only temporary and it soon returns to normal.
So to get reliable readings, blood pressure is measured on several different days and while you are resting. This means sitting down and relaxing on a chair, and waiting about three minutes before taking a measurement so that your circulatory system comes to rest. The upper arm that is being used for the measurement should rest on a table, at about the same height as the heart, while the reading is being done.
Digital blood pressure monitors are often used on the wrist, but they can also be placed on the finger or upper arm and are activated simply by pressing a button. They read the blood pressure automatically based on variations in the volume of blood in the arteries. When taking blood pressure measurements on the wrist, it's important to keep the hand level with the heart. Otherwise it can affect the readings.
To measure blood pressure, the cuff is placed around the bare and stretched out upper arm, and inflated until no blood can flow through the brachial artery. Then the air is slowly let out of the cuff.
As soon as the air pressure in the cuff falls below the systolic blood pressure in the brachial artery, blood will start to flow through the arm once again. This creates a pounding sound when the arteries close again and the walls of the vessels hit each other after a heart beat. The sound can be heard by placing the stethoscope close to the elbow. Right when you start to hear this pounding for the first time you can read your systolic blood pressure off the pressure meter.
The pounding sound stops when the air pressure in the cuff falls below the diastolic blood pressure in the brachial artery. Then the blood vessels remain open. Right when the pounding stops, you can read the diastolic blood pressure off the pressure meter.
If a doctor recommends ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, you will need to wear a blood pressure cuff for 24 hours. It's connected to a small, portable measuring device that automatically measures your blood pressure at set times and records the readings.
Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is used, for example, to see whether blood pressure levels vary greatly over the course of the day and night or whether they are constantly elevated. During those 24 hours, you can do all of the usual things you would otherwise do over the course of the day. If you are especially active at certain times, you can make a note in a diary. Then the doctor has a better idea of how to interpret the recorded values when evaluating them.
The Greater Goods Smart Blood Pressure Monitor 0604 is everything we think most at-home users want in a blood pressure monitor: It has the ability to both detect an irregular heartbeat and average pressure readings, it pairs easily with a companion app over Bluetooth, and it features an easy-to-read, backlit screen. The device can store up to 60 readings per each of two users, while its companion app can store unlimited results.
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