Free Download Blood Pressure Measuring __TOP_

The American Heart Association recommends home monitoring for all people with high blood pressure to help the health care professional determine whether treatments are working. Home monitoring, or self-measured blood pressure, is not a substitute for regular visits to your physician. If you have been prescribed medication to lower your blood pressure, don't stop taking your medication without consulting your health care professional, even if your blood pressure readings are in the normal range during home monitoring.

Each time your heart beats, it pumps blood into your arteries. A blood pressure measurement is a test that measures the force (pressure) in your arteries as your heart pumps. Blood pressure is measured as two numbers:

Free Download Blood Pressure Measuring

Download 🔥 https://urluss.com/2y3Bfy 🔥

High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, affects tens of millions of adults in the United States. It increases the risk of life-threatening conditions including heart attack and stroke. But high blood pressure rarely causes symptoms. A blood pressure measurement helps diagnose high blood pressure early, so it may be treated before it leads to serious complications.

Blood pressure that's too low, known as hypotension, is much less common. But you may get tested for low blood pressure if you have certain symptoms. Unlike high blood pressure, low blood pressure usually causes symptoms. These include:

A blood pressure measurement is often included as part of a regular checkup. Adults 18 years and older should have their blood pressure measured at least once every two to five years. You should get tested every year if you have certain risk factors. You may be at higher risk if you:

Your results, also known as a blood pressure reading, will contain two numbers. The top or first number is the systolic pressure. The bottom or second number is the diastolic pressure. High blood pressure readings are also labeled by categories, ranging from normal to crisis. Your reading may show your blood pressure is:

If you've been diagnosed with high blood pressure, your provider may recommend lifestyle changes and/or medicines to control your blood pressure. Your provider may also recommend that you regularly check your blood pressure at home with an automated blood pressure monitor. An at-home blood pressure monitor usually includes a blood pressure cuff and a digital device to record and display blood pressure readings.

Home monitoring is not a replacement for regular visits to your provider. But it can provide important information, such as whether treatment is working or your condition may have worsened. Also, home monitoring may make the test less stressful. Many people get nervous about getting their blood pressure taken at a provider's office. This is called "white coat syndrome." It can cause a temporary rise in blood pressure, making the results less accurate. For more information about home monitoring of blood pressure, talk to your provider.

If you were tested for low blood pressure, a blood pressure reading of 90 systolic, 60 diastolic (90/60) or lower is considered abnormal. Treatments for low blood pressure may include medicines and making certain changes to your diet.

To determine whether you have hypertension, a medical professional will take a blood pressure reading. How you prepare for the test, the position of your arm, and other factors can change a blood pressure reading by 10% or more. That could be enough to hide high blood pressure, start you on a drug you don't really need, or lead your doctor to incorrectly adjust your medications.

National and international guidelines offer specific instructions for measuring blood pressure. If a doctor, nurse, or medical assistant isn't doing it right, don't hesitate to ask him or her to get with the guidelines.

The best position to take your blood pressure is seated in a chair with your feet on the floor and your arm supported so your elbow is at about heart level. You should remain in this position throughout the measurement.

In general, the arm-to-arm difference in systolic blood pressure is 5 points or less. If the difference is consistently greater than 10 points between the two arms, let your doctor know. This could be a sign that you have more than expected arterial plaque buildup.

There are times to break these rules. If you sometimes feel lightheaded when getting out of bed in the morning or when you stand after sitting, you should have your blood pressure checked while seated and then while standing to see if it falls from one position to the next.

Because blood pressure varies throughout the day, your doctor will rarely diagnose hypertension on the basis of a single reading. Instead, he or she will want to confirm the measurements on at least two occasions in the office, or have you measure your blood pressure yourself with a home monitor.

Sign up to get tips for living a healthy lifestyle, with ways to fight inflammation and improve cognitive health, plus the latest advances in preventative medicine, diet and exercise, pain relief, blood pressure and cholesterol management, and more.

Diagnosis and treatment of hypertension depend on accurate measurement of auscultatory blood pressure. The lowering of target blood pressure for patients with diabetes or renal disease has made detection of small differences more important. However, blood pressure reading is one of the most inaccurately performed measurements in clinical medicine.

To increase accuracy of clinic readings, and in recognition of major changes over the past 10 years (including the prohibition of mercury in many countries), the American Heart Association (AHA) has published a new set of recommendations for the measurement of blood pressure. The AHA scientific statement, written by Pickering and colleagues, was first published in the January 2005 issue of Hypertension and also appears in the February 8, 2005, issue ofCirculation. It can be accessed online at A summary of the AHA scientific statement follows.

Systolic and diastolic blood pressures are preferred for use in hypertension classification, rather than arterial or pulse pressure. A classification of hypertension and prehypertension from the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure is given in Table 1. Prehypertension has increasing health risks and can progress to hypertension.

Observers should be assessed for physical and cognitive competency to perform the procedure, including vision, hearing, and eye/hand/ear coordination. Retraining of all health care professionals is strongly recommended by the AHA. Training methods using audiovisual tapes to test and retest accuracy are extremely effective. Online resources that may be useful include a guide to accurate blood pressure measurement at , and an instructional video from BMJ Books atwww.abdn.ac.uk/medical/bhs/tutorial/tutorial.htm.

The position of the patient can have a sizable impact on blood pressure measurements. For the most accurate measurement, the AHA recommends that the patient be relaxed and seated with legs uncrossed and back and arm supported. Children should have their feet on the floor rather than dangling above it. If possible, the patient should be seated five minutes before the reading. All clothing covering the cuff location should be removed (rolled-up sleeves, if tight, may create a tourniquet effect above the cuff).

For a child, overinflation of the cuff may cause discomfort. One technique to avoid this is to estimate the systolic pressure by inflating the cuff while palpating the pulse, and then inflate the cuff to 30 mm Hg above the estimated level when the pressure is auscultated.

At the first visit, blood pressure should be measured in both arms, which may be useful for identifying coarctation of the aorta and upper-extremity arterial obstruction. If there is a consistent difference in measurement between the arms, the highest pressure should be recorded. In children, the right arm is always preferable for consistency and comparison with reference tables.

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is a noninvasive, automated process that records blood pressure over an extended period. Typically, readings are taken every 15 to 30 minutes for 24 hours, with around 50 to 100 readings in total. Data from the device are downloaded into software and can be translated into a report.

Blood pressure measurements taken on home monitors (typically oscillometric devices that record brachial artery pressure) may, according to prospective studies from Japan and France, be more accurate predictors of morbidity than clinical readings. Increasing evidence also suggests better target organ damage prediction with home readings, and self-measurement in older patients may aid physicians in antihypertensive medication dosing decisions. Electronic home monitoring is easy to use, cost-effective, and may improve therapeutic compliance. However, only five devices so far have passed proper validation tests (a list is available online at ).

Patients interested in self-monitoring should be instructed to sit in a comfortable chair for three to five minutes with the upper arm at heart level before taking a measurement, and should be reminded not to exercise or eat directly before the reading. Three readings should be taken at intervals of one minute or longer, and the average of the three recorded. Early morning and evening readings are especially helpful. Normal blood pressure at home is lower than that in the clinic. The upper limit suggested by the American Society of Hypertension is 135/85 mm Hg. Because of the potential for incorrect reporting to the physician, the AHA recommends that devices with memory or printouts be used. A lower home blood pressure goal is recommended for pregnant women, patients with diabetes, and those with renal failure, among others.

The first step to managing your blood pressure is to Know Your Numbers! Watch our video to see how to measure your blood pressure at home and use our tips and resources below to check your own blood pressure at home. 2351a5e196