Your blood pressure should be checked in the morning, about an hour after you wake up, and in the evening, about an hour before you go to sleep, using the same arm each time. Taking 3 consecutive measurements (about 1 minute apart) will provide a more accurate understanding of your "true" blood pressure.
Don't measure your blood pressure right after you wake up.
You can prepare for the day, but don't eat breakfast or take medications before measuring your blood pressure. If you exercise after waking, take your blood pressure before exercising.
Everyone's blood pressure rises and falls many times during the course of a single day, sometimes even within minutes. Many factors contribute to these changes, including physical activity, emotion, body position, diet (especially salt and alcohol intake), and sleep deprivation.
Use this checklist: Don't eat or drink anything 30 minutes before you take your blood pressure. Empty your bladder before your reading. Sit in a comfortable chair with your back supported for at least 5 minutes before your reading.
Your first blood pressure reading will almost always be higher than the second due to a wide range of factors, both environmental and psychological. These factors include white coat syndrome, stress, and having a full bladder.
Ignore the first day's readings altogether, because they might not be accurate as you're not familiar with your monitor yet. At the end of the week you will have a useful picture of what your blood pressure is normally like.
Check it twice
It's ideal to measure your blood pressure twice a day for two weeks leading up to a doctor's appointment, or following a change in medication. At each sitting, measure your blood pressure three times, but discard the first reading as it tends to be inaccurate.
A rise in blood pressure overnight to early morning has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease. An irregular blood pressure pattern could also mean that you have: Poorly controlled high blood pressure.
Normal blood pressure is less than 120/80 mm Hg . Readings between 120/80 mm Hg and 139/89 mm Hg indicate that a person is at risk of developing hypertension, while readings of more than 140/90 mm Hg signify hypertension.
It's normal for blood pressure to fluctuate within the normal range throughout the day. It typically rises in the morning and peaks around midday before reaching its lowest levels at night while you are asleep. However, some people experience morning hypertension—unusually high blood pressure in the morning.
A BP cuff that is too large will give falsely low readings, while an overly small cuff will provide readings that are falsely high.
Insomnia is linked to high blood pressure and heart disease. Over time, poor sleep can also lead to unhealthy habits that can hurt your heart, including higher stress levels, less motivation to be physically active, and unhealthy food choices.
Call 911 or emergency medical services if your blood pressure is 180/120 mm Hg or greater and you have chest pain, shortness of breath, or symptoms of stroke. Stroke symptoms include numbness or tingling, trouble speaking, or changes in vision.
Acute meal ingestion, caffeine or nicotine use can all affect BP readings, leading to errors in measurement accuracy. If the patient has a full bladder, that can lead to an error in systolic BP of up to 33 mm Hg, and the white-coat effect can have an error of up to 26 mm Hg.
Still, you can make lifestyle changes to bring your blood pressure down. Something as simple as keeping yourself hydrated by drinking six to eight glasses of water every day improves blood pressure. Water makes up 73% of the human heart,¹ so no other liquid is better at controlling blood pressure.
Walking lowers systolic blood pressure by 4.11 mm Hg (95% CI, 3.01 to 5.22 mm Hg). It lowers diastolic blood pressure by 1.79 mm Hg (95% CI, 1.07 to 2.51 mm Hg) and resting heart rate by 2.76 beats per minute (bpm; 95% CI, 0.95 to 4.57 bpm).
Start your day with exercise
Regular exercise is one of the most effective ways to control high blood pressure naturally. Studies advise that early morning is the best time to exercise. You can try cardio exercises like running, brisk walking, swimming or cycling.
Anxiety doesn't cause long-term high blood pressure (hypertension). But episodes of anxiety can cause dramatic, temporary spikes in blood pressure.
The study found: Blood pressure readings taken at home were consistent with ABPM. Blood pressure readings based on follow-up clinic visits were significantly lower for the systolic measure, leading to over half of the people with hypertension based on ABPM being missed.
The first is typically the highest, and the average should be used as the blood pressure reading.
Conclusions. Single-arm measurements, compared to double-arm measurements, may underestimate the prevalence of hypertension. However, if double-arm measurements are unavailable, right arm is preferred for measurement of BP, especially in women.
It's actually quite normal. A difference of more than 10 points, though, could suggest trouble. In younger people, side-to-side differences in blood pressure can occur when a muscle or something else compresses an artery supplying the arm, or by a structural problem that prevents smooth blood flow through an artery.