Hypertension Diagnosis: 3 Ways To Determine If You Have High Blood Pressure

A person’s blood pressure is an indication of blood circulation within the vessels of their body. Alongside breathing rate, heart rate, and body temperature, blood pressure is a vital sign, and one that can offer a lot of information about your current health condition. The reading of a person’s blood pressure can be done both in a doctor’s office, as well as at home, provided that you invest in the proper tools.

1. Using an automated blood pressure machine

Every good automatic blood pressure monitor needs to come with a very specific set of instructions, as the use of such a device may vary from one manufacturer to another. After purchasing one, you can always ask for a doctor’s help to show you how to use it and get the best reading possible.

In a lot of cases, these machines will give a different reading compared to the results of a manual blood pressure check. For the best results, take your automated blood pressure machine to your next doctor’s appointment, and calibrate it according to the manual reading. 

2. Manual blood pressure check

This is the traditional way of checking blood pressure, one which uses a sphygmomanometer and a stethoscope. A sphygmomanometer is a device which consists of an inflatable cuff, a squeezable balloon, and a pressure gauge. Checking your own blood pressure can be difficult, as you will have one free hand available to perform several operations.

Just a few steps are required to take your own blood pressure:

• Place one of your arms on a flat surface, like a table or a desk. Make sure that you palm is facing up. Put the inflatable cuff around your biceps, making sure it’s secured to the arm so it doesn’t fall off.
• Once the cuff is in place, start squeezing the balloon, until it’s really tight around your biceps. You have to squeeze the balloon until the needle on the pressure gauge is about 20 to 30 mm Hg above your normal blood pressure. If you are not sure how much that is, talk to your doctor to get indication on how to take your own blood pressure at home.
• With the cuff fully inflated, take the stethoscope and put it on your elbow crease, facing the arm’s major artery. If you can’t do this on your own, ask a family member or a friend to assist you.
• With the ears of the stethoscope pointing at your eardrums, start releasing the balloon until you hear a sound that sounds like a “whoosh”. Always look at the pressure gauge number, so that you can write down or remember the indicated value at the moment you hear the sound. The number shown is your systolic blood pressure.
• To determine your diastolic blood pressure, keep listening to the blood flowing in your arteries through your stethoscope. Listen to the rhythm of that blood flow until the balloon is deflated and the sound stops. When that happens, the number indicated on the monitor will be your diastolic pressure.
• The correct reading of your blood pressure will always be a two-number fraction, with the systolic pressure on the top side, and the diastolic pressure on the bottom (such as 120/80 mm Hg, for example).

To make the most out of your home blood pressure reading, consider the following tips:

• Make sure that you are fully relaxed when taking your blood pressure. Stress, anxiety, fear, and nervousness are causes for a temporary rise in blood pressure, and will get in the way of an accurate reading.
• Don’t read your blood pressure right after you’ve exercised. The heart will naturally beat faster, affecting the result of the read.
• It’s always a good idea to measure your blood pressure twice. If the results of the systolic or diastolic pressure (or both) are different with five or more points, perform a third reading as well.
• It doesn’t matter which arm you choose for measuring your blood pressure, BUT make sure that you’ve used both arms at least once. A study published back in 2014 revealed that there is a reading difference of about five points between the left and right arm.

3. Apps for blood pressure monitoring

First things first: an app that checks your blood pressure will never have the accuracy of traditional methods. However, they can still be useful because they can help track evolution over longer periods of time.

Some of these apps are free while others are available only for purchase, but you are very likely to find a free one that’s compatible with your operating system, as well as the model of your phone. By tracking your blood pressure readings, it’s easier to memorize hypertension-related information, which you can later communicate to your doctor.

Conclusion

To make sure that you read your blood pressure accurately, you will need to make sure that you purchase a cuff that’s of an appropriate size. For example, children inflatable cuffs are much smaller compared to those specifically designed for adults.

It’s also important to adopt the correct posture, with your arm resting on a flat surface, palm facing upwards, feet flat on the floor, and a straight back. Always make sure that you are relaxed both mentally and physically, as taking your blood pressure right after exercise will also result in an inaccurate reading.