Tips for how to check your blood pressure at home

Posted: July 22, 2024

Checking your blood pressure at home is a critical part of managing high blood pressure or hypertension. Blood pressure is one indicator of overall health. Prolonged high blood pressure can increase your risk for serious health problems like heart disease, heart attack and stroke. Knowing how to check your blood pressure, including the proper steps before and after taking your reading, is very important to obtaining the most accurate information.

How blood pressure is measured

Blood pressure has two measurements: systolic pressure and diastolic pressure. Systolic pressure is the force of your blood against artery walls when your heart beats and pumps blood. Pressure between heartbeats is diastolic pressure and should be lower than systolic pressure. Healthy blood pressure is based on many factors, but only your primary care provider can determine what is right for you. If you start to monitor your blood pressure, there are systolic pressure and diastolic pressure numbers to look for through stages of hypertension. These include:

• Pre-hypertension is a systolic range between 120-139 mmHg and diastolic range of 80-89 mmHg.
• Stage 1 hypertension is a systolic range between 140-159 mmHg and diastolic range of 90-99 mmHg.
• Stage 2 hypertension is a systolic range greater than or equal to 160 mmHg and diastolic range greater than 100 mmHg.

As you age, it is more likely systolic hypertension will develop. Medical providers continue to re-evaluate long-term benefits of how to treat hypertension later in life, because it becomes more difficult to control. Risk factors for high blood pressure include diabetes, kidney disease, age, family history, weight and lack of physical activity, alcohol consumption and for women, use of contraceptives. If you are unable to monitor your blood pressure at home, you also can have your blood pressure checked in your provider's office, local pharmacy with measurement machines or even local grocery and convenience stores with pharmacies.

How to check your blood pressure

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, here is a checklist for checking your blood pressure:

• Don't eat or drink 30 minutes before you take your blood pressure.
• Empty your bladder before your reading.
• Sit in a comfortable chair with your back supported.
• Put both feet flat on the ground and keep your legs uncrossed.
• Rest your arm with the cuff on the table at chest height.
• Make sure the blood pressure cuff is snug but not too tight. The cuff should be on bare skin, not over clothing.
• Do not talk while measuring your blood pressure.

 

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Once you complete your blood pressure reading, make sure you know what the reading means to ensure you have a normal blood pressure reading. You can talk to your primary care provider about what blood pressure reading is normal for you and your health history. Angela Luchterhand, certified medical assistant at Marshfield Clinic Health System, explains and demonstrates these tips for taking your blood pressure at home in this video. [embed title="How to Check Blood Pressure at Home"]https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qlhyj4V312E[/embed] [divider]

For questions about blood pressure, talk to a Marshfield Clinic Health System provider.

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