How and why to check your blood pressure at home.
While I might go on and on about blood glucose and the importance of measuring it continuously, I think blood pressure is more important… at least in the short term. High blood pressure is nothing to mess around with. Of all the things we worry about, this is the one that can kill you the fastest.
It’s not just heart attack and stroke! High blood pressure damages your kidneys. And once they are damaged, you can’t fix them.
However, most of us just check our blood pressure once per year, if that. And it’s in an artificial environment. We are far better off monitoring it at home and in a variety of situations so we can see not only if it’s high, but when it’s high and how we could lower it naturally.
I’ll give you an example. Let’s say when you’ve followed my instructions below and sit down in the mornings for 5 minutes relaxing before checking your BP. It’s 115/70. Great. But the rest of the day you never sit down and you’re a stress bunny until 8pm. Not great. Try checking it when you are at work. Sure, it SHOULD be higher during the more active parts of your day. But if it’s routinely around 140/90, you are going to want to start incorporating some breaks, deep breathing exercises and mindfulness into your routine.
What follows is a guide to:
How to measure your blood pressure
What device to use
What your goal should be
How to take your blood pressure at home
General guidelines:
Do not smoke, drink caffeinated beverages or exercise within 30 minutes before measuring your blood pressure.
Use the toilet, as a full bladder can cause temporary elevations in blood pressure.
If you are concerned about your blood pressure, measure it at the same time every day for a week, then report this to your provider.
How to measure your blood pressure:
With the cuff on your bare arm, sit in an upright position with your back supported, feet flat on the floor and your arm supported at heart level (meaning, your arm muscles are completely relaxed and your wrist is resting on the table). Make sure the bottom of the cuff is directly above the bend of the elbow.
Relax for about five minutes before taking a measurement. Resist the urge to talk or look at a cell phone.
Take your blood pressure 2-3 times and average the reading.
Some things that can cause temporary elevations in blood pressure
NSAID medications
Decongestants
Alcohol
Caffeine
Nicotine
Stress
How to buy a home blood pressure cuff
It’s thought that devices which measure your blood pressure from the upper arm are more reliable than wrist devices. If a wrist device is all you have access to, then do not hesitate to use it. However, if shopping for a new device, follow these guides.
The website validateBP.org has a list of home monitors that the American Heart Association approves. Be sure to get the correct size, as a cuff that is too small will register an artificially high reading.
I’ve added a handful of these approved monitors to this Amazon List.
Pro tip: Take your home monitor with you to the doctor’s office, pharmacy, fire station or wherever they have a really high end monitor. Test your bp with both devices to sort of calibrate your own and make sure it’s up to snuff every year.
Reasons you should be monitoring your blood pressure weekly:
Improving your health, diet changes, blood sugar improvement, and may need to reduce your BP meds
It’s important to track blood pressure and adjust/remove medication as your BP starts to go down. Share the data with your prescribing physician.
Suspect you may have high blood pressure
Suspect you may have low blood pressure
Adding salt to manage POTS: don’t go over 180/20
High BP kills. I don’t use fear tactics very often, but this is a big risk. Check it and don’t stick your head in the sand. Deal with it.
