Your blood pressure can vary so much throughout the day that a single measurement in a doctor\u2019s office can give you a diagnosis of high blood pressure when you don\u2019t have it, or miss high blood pressure when you do have it.\u00a0 I think that everyone should have a blood pressure cuff at home so they can monitor their own blood pressure. I recommend getting an arm blood pressure cuff rather than a wrist cuff because the arm cuffs are more dependable. They are inexpensive and are available at any drug store or online.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A normal blood pressure is 120\/80 mm Hg or lower. If your blood pressure is consistently higher than 130\/80, you have high blood pressure and you can expect your blood pressure to rise higher as you age, since your blood vessels stiffen with aging. About 50 percent of North American adults have high blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and premature death.\u00a0\u00a0You can\u2019t depend completely on blood pressure measurements done only in a doctor\u2019s office because being active, having \u201cwhite coat syndrome,\u201d (feeling nervous or stressed), or an improper hurried measurement can raise blood pressure considerably. In one study, systolic blood pressure was 7.3 mm Hg higher in a doctor\u2019s office than when measured more precisely in a research setting (JAMA Intern Med<\/em>, 2020 Dec 1;180(12):1655-1663).<\/p>\n How To Take Your Own Blood Pressure Properly<\/strong> Factors That Can Raise Your Blood Pressure Readings<\/strong> Lifestyle Changes to Lower High Blood Pressure<\/strong> Most people with a systolic blood pressure between 130\u2013140 mm or diastolic blood pressure between 80\u201390 mm can reduce their blood pressure to 120\/80 or lower without taking medication, by losing weight, eating healthful foods, cutting down on salt, increasing potassium-rich foods, exercising regularly and not smoking or drinking. Check with your doctor.<\/p>\n My Recommendations<\/strong> Lifestyle changes to lower blood pressure include: <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You can\u2019t depend completely on blood pressure measurements done only in a doctor\u2019s office because being active, having \u201cwhite coat syndrome,\u201d (feeling nervous or stressed), or an improper hurried measurement can raise blood pressure considerably. In one study, systolic blood pressure was 7.3 mm Hg higher in a doctor\u2019s office than when measured more precisely in a research setting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[484,828,485,829,794,486],"class_list":["post-3682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heart","tag-blood-pressure","tag-blood-pressure-cuff","tag-diastolic","tag-false-blood-pressure-reading","tag-high-blood-presssure","tag-systolic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/drmirkin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
When and how you check your blood pressure can affect your results.
\u2022 Take your blood pressure after sitting quietly for at least five minutes, preferably either before you go to sleep at night or early in the morning, at least five minutes after you wake up and start moving around.
\u2022 Don\u2019t smoke, drink caffeinated beverages or exercise for at least an hour before checking your blood pressure.
\u2022 Don\u2019t talk while taking your blood pressure.
\u2022 Make sure your bladder is comfortably empty.
\u2022 Sit on a chair with your arm on a table or desk, with your palm facing up.
\u2022 Sit with your back straight and well-supported.\u00a0 Do not cross your legs.
\u2022 Keep your upper arm where you will place the cuff at heart level.
\u2022 Make sure the cuff fits snugly with no looseness on the upper arm.
\u2022 Take two or three readings at least one minute apart. Do this for a week, and average the readings. If the average is over 120\/80, your blood pressure is too high.<\/p>\n
A study of 2,300,000 blood pressure measurements taken by Kaiser Permanente Southern California showed the wide variety of factors that can falsely raise blood pressure (Permanente Journal<\/em>, 2009;13(3):51-54), including:
\u2022 blood pressure cuff too small
\u2022 blood pressure cuff not snug at the start
\u2022 blood pressure cuff placed over thick clothing
\u2022 not resting for five minutes before taking the reading
\u2022 exercising or eating beforehand
\u2022 not supporting arms, legs, feet or back, which can cause muscles to contract and raise blood pressure
\u2022 crossing the legs
\u2022 holding arms above or below heart level
\u2022 feeling excited
\u2022 thinking about an emotional situation
\u2022 talking
\u2022 laughing
\u2022 smoking
\u2022 having taken in alcohol or caffeine
\u2022 having a full bladder
\u2022 having taken certain medicines such as cold remedies or allergy pills
\u2022 having eaten certain foods such as those that contain tyramine (fermented, pickled or cured foods)
\u2022 room temperature too hot or too cold<\/p>\n
Many people don\u2019t know that they have high blood pressure because they may have no symptoms. High blood pressure is defined as anything greater than 130\/80 by almost all medical groups, including the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology. The numbers used to be 140\/90, but that misses a lot of people who could have been saved from a preventable premature death just by making some lifestyle changes (Annals of Internal Medicine<\/em>, March 6, 2018). A study called the SPRINT TRIAL showed that bringing blood pressure below 120 significantly reduces heart attack and stroke risk (N Engl J Med<\/em>, 2015; 373:2103-2116). Having a systolic blood pressure over 130 doubles your chances of suffering a heart attack, stroke, or heart or kidney failure, and puts you at increased risk for developing dementia in later life. Known causes of high blood pressure include diabetes, pregnancy, dehydration, cardiovascular disease, obstructive sleep apnea, kidney disease, thyroid problems, nervous system problems, and so forth.<\/p>\n
If your average systolic blood pressure is over 120 or your average diastolic pressure is over 80, you should immediately make all the lifestyle changes necessary to lower it. Your doctor may feel that you need medications to lower high blood pressure, but lifestyle modifications can often bring your blood pressure to normal so it may not be necessary for you to stay on medication.<\/p>\n
\u2022 lose weight if overweight
\u2022 eat lots of vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans and other seeds
\u2022 avoid sugared drinks (including fruit juices) and sugar-added foods, red meat, processed meats and fried foods
\u2022 get plenty of exercise
\u2022 keep your blood levels of hydroxy-vitamin D above 30 ng\/mL
Your doctor may prescribe medications but you will still want to make these lifestyle changes. See Treat High Blood Pressure with Lifestyle Changes<\/a>\u00a0and Blood Pressure Guidelines<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n