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ABOUT BLOOD PRESSURE
1. What is blood pressure?
Blood pressure is the measurement of the force of blood pushing against the walls of the
arteries. Arterial blood pressure is constantly fluctuating during the course of the cardiac
cycle. The highest pressure in the cycle is called the systolic blood pressure, and rep-
resents the pressure in the artery when the heart is beating. The lowest pressure is the
diastolic blood pressure, and represents the pressure in the artery when the heart is at
rest. Both the systolic and the diastolic pressure are necessary for a physician to evaluate
the status of a patient’s blood pressure.
Many factors such as physical activity, anxiety or the time of day, can influence your blood
pressure. Blood pressure is typically low in the mornings and increases from the afternoon
to the evening. It is on average lower in the summer and higher in the winter.
2. Why is it useful to measure blood pressure at home?
Having one’s blood pressure measured by a doctor in a hospital or a clinic, is often asso-
ciated with a phenomenon called “White Coat Hypertension” where the patient becomes
nervous or anxious, thus raising his blood pressure. There are also numerous other factors
that might cause your blood pressure to be raised at a specific time of day. This is why
medical practitioners recommend home monitoring as it is important to get readings of
blood pressure during different times of the day to really get an idea of your real blood
pressure.
Medical practitioners generally recommend the “Rule of 3”, where you are encouraged to
take your blood pressure three times in a row (at 3-5 minutes interval), three times a day
for three days. After three days you can average all the results and this will give you an
accurate idea of what your blood pressure really is.
A. WHO blood pressure classifications:
Standards for assessment of high or
low blood pressure without regard to
age, have been established by the
World Health Organization (WHO), as
shown in the chart.
However this chart is not exact for
classification of blood pressure and
it’s intended to be used as a guide
in understanding non-invasive blood
pressure measurements.
Please consult with your physician for proper diagnosis.
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