Taking blood pressure correctly

Measure your blood pressure correctly

There are different devices one can use to measure their blood pressure. Here, we have the blood pressure gauge with mercury, the aneroid manometer, or some electronic instrument specially designed for taking blood pressure. Of course, you have to make sure to calibrate and validate the apparatus in a certified shop. There are blood pressure gauges that are sold in supermarkets and pharmacy shops, but they sometimes aren’t kept in sufficiently good condition and should be avoided.

A few tricks for correct reading

There are a couple of easy measures one needs to follow in order to ensure precise measurement of the blood pressure value. It is important that you abstain from smoking and drinking coffee a quarter hour prior to the measurement procedure.

When an overweight or heavily muscular person wants to take their blood pressure, they need to be provided with a bladder of the device that is of proper size. A larger bladder is necessary for bigger people, a smaller one for children.

What you also need to ensure is proper posture. The person needs to sit with their back supported, as well as their arm, which should be in level with the heart. Rest your legs on the floor; do not let them dangle freely. If you possibly can, make sure to spend some time in that position prior to talking the pressure reading. Do your best to abstain from talking while your blood pressure is being taken.

Appropriate steps to be taken

There is a procedure which is considered desirable when you want to ensure accurate reading of the blood pressure. First, the cuff’s lower rim needs to be positioned approximately one inch above the elbow. Put it on your bare arm and close it around.

Position the earpieces in your ears and the bell on the brachial artery, which is to be found on the inner part of the arm, in the region of elbow.

Make sure the belt is fitted properly. Pump the air into the cuff by using the special bulb. Keep inflating the cuff until the flow of blood through the brachial artery is stopped. That is when you stop hearing any sound in the earpieces.

Adjust the screw once more until the air pressure starts decreasing. The blood will start flowing again, and the number that the mercury bar has reached at this point is systolic blood pressure. The level which it reaches when you stop hearing the sound for the second time is called the diastolic blood pressure.