ORLANDO – Having high blood pressure, called hypertension, is the biggest risk for disability, dementia, and early death around the world, and in the U.S., almost half of adults have it.
Hypertension is also associated with a higher incidence of heart attack and stroke. In fact, life insurance companies have been known to turn you down if your blood pressure is too high.
If you’re concerned about or trying to manage your blood pressure, you probably measure it at home. But how do you know your reading is correct?
When it comes to taking your blood pressure, there are many rules.
“You should be, not only not talking for five minutes before checking blood pressure, but also within half an hour, no smoking, no exercising, and no caffeine,” said Puxiao Cen, MD, cardiologist at AdventHealth.
All of those actions can make your blood pressure reading higher than it actually is, which can cause doctors to over-prescribe medications and then cause low blood pressure. Another disrupting factor?
“I remember 30 years ago when there was a resident, there was a patient keep having very fast heart rate and blood pressure and he’s quadriplegic and we had no idea until we found out that we should empty the bladder for him and the blood pressure and heart rate is perfect,” described Dr. Cen.
A full bladder causes high stress levels, raising blood pressure. You also need to be in the right position.
“Their feet should be flat on the ground and back supported with a chair. And if it’s using arm cuff, the arm should be at the level of right atrium, which is in the middle of the sternum,” Dr. Cen told Ivanhoe.
An arm in the lap increased blood pressure readings by 3.9 over 4, and a dangling arm was even higher. Finally, don’t take your blood pressure too many times in one sitting.
“The blood pressure cuff can stimulate the vascular resistance and you can get higher and higher blood pressure readings,” stated Dr. Cen.
And accurate readings mean accurate treatments.
When you are checking your blood pressure at home, you need to consider cuff size. A cuff too small can create false high blood pressure readings and a cuff too large can create false low blood pressure. And don’t discount high readings in the office as white coat hypertension when you have low readings at home. Dr. Cen says that it may be a sign of future high blood pressure.
Contributors to this news report include: Marcy Wilder, Associate Producer; Chuck Bennethum, Videographer & Editor.
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