Modern day lifestyle has affected our lives in many ways. With so many diseases that have now become an integral part of our lives, the major concern still remains the heart. The risk of high or low blood pressure can directly affect the heart and it is a major risk. So if you are one among those who have the tendency of fluctuating blood pressure, learning how to measure blood pressure by yourself is extremely essential.
Measuring blood pressure might not be a task you get right at the first go. Only practice can make one perfect and make one get accurate reading. In order to help our readers how to get the reading accurate manually and at the convenience of finding it out at home, we have listed detailed steps that will make this procedure easy. Have a look!
1. Getting The Blood Pressure Kit
a) Sizing The Cuff
Getting the right size of the cuff is extremely important for the right pressure to be applied on to the arm for getting the accurate measurement. Trying the cuff so that it fits exactly around the arm is the first thing to check before you get yourself the machine.
Checking the pump that will pump in air through the air pipe is important. Checking for leakage is essential to avoid any faulty reading
2. Preparing For The Check
a) Avoiding Any Physical Activity
Running, climbing stairs and exercising should be avoided as it directly affects the blood pressure and can land up showing a higher range.
b) No To These
When one id preparing to check blood pressure, they should avoid all blood pressure increasing factors like smoking, drinking alcohol or having coffee. All these have to be avoided to get the accurate reading.
c) Keep It Empty
A full stomach and a full bladder to can affect the blood pressure reading. Hence one needs to ensure that the stomach and bladder are empty.
d) Fix A Time
Blood pressure fluctuates across the day. In order to get an accurate reading, one should check the blood pressure around the same time everyday to get the best of the results.
3. Pre Check Preparation
One needs to find them a silent and comfortable where they could sit comfortably without any hassles. Wearing a lose sleeve shirt is important to easily roll it up while checking the blood pressure.
Once the place ready, one should rest for 10 minutes before they measure the blood pressure. So if all this set, lets go on to see how we measure the blood pressure manually.
4. Checking The Blood Pressure
Step 1 :
First, one should locate their pulse in the inside of the inner elbow. Pressing the area with the index and the middle fingers can help detect the pulse. If the pulse is still too pale, one should use the round end of the stethoscope around the area and then try and listen to the pulse.
Step 2:
Next, one should put the cuff around the arm. Ensuring the cuff is rightly tied and is tight enough is important. Hence, after wearing the cuff, one should try inserting two fingers to check the tightness. If they pass easily, then one needs to tie it tighter.
Step 3:
Next is to place the round end of the stethoscope under the cuff exactly around the area where the pulse can be felt. The earpieces should be in the ear. After placing the cuff, its time to place the gauge.
Step 4:
Placing the gauge where it is visible to one checking is important. It needs to be placed accordingly.
Step 5:
Once the gauge is in place, one should screw the airflow valve of the pump. Now once everything is in place , one can go ahead and the check the blood pressure.
5. Measuring The Blood Pressure
Step 1:
The bulb should be rigorously pumped till the pulse isn’t heard. One should pump till the pressure in the gauge reads 30 to 40 mmHg above the normal pressure.
Step 2:
One should deflate the cuff next.
Step 3:
Now note the measurement when you hear the heartbeat again. This is called the systolic reading. This blood pressure is measured when the heart contracts.
Step 4:
Next, one should note the reading when the heartbeat disappears. This is called the diastolic reading. This blood pressure is checked between the heartbeats.
Step 5 :
One should note the reading and then repeat this test after a few minutes to get the accurate results. If you are among the first timers, you should ideally check the blood pressure three times and then take the average.
After noting the blood pressure, you should check that systolic blood pressure should be less than or equal to 120 mmHg and the diastolic blood pressure should be less than or equal to 80 mmHg. This range is considered normal and its attainable with regular exercise and diet.
Things To Keep In Mind
1. Blood pressure might fluctuate, however if one sees continuous fluctuations in the reading, either indicating low or high blood pressure, they should seek for medical advise.
2. If you see high blood pressure in quite a few readings, one should ensure that they aren’t panicking. Anxiety and stress can directly lead to an increase in the blood pressure. Hence keeping calm and relaxing is extremely important before measuring the blood pressure.
3. If one notes low blood pressure, one should gulp in some lime juice with salt. This helps in regulating the blood pressure and bringing it to the normal range. However, if multiple reading shows low blood pressure, then one should visit the doctor.
Well, if one follows the procedure as described, one can check the blood pressure at home and with practice it would get easy and accurate to check blood pressure. If you seem to be healthy and usually have a normal blood pressure, checking blood pressure every alternate day would be suggested. However, if you are among those who have history of blood pressure issues, then you should ideally check the blood pressure and everyday and interpret the results accordingly.
We hope our readers now are aware of all the steps to keep in mind when the checking the blood pressure manually. We hope everyone remains in good health always!
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