Commonly Asked Questions
Why Should I Monitor My Blood Pressure At Home?
By monitoring at home, you may manage your health in between
doctor visits. Home monitoring also provides you with a record
of blood pressure measurements over time to give to your
doctor - a valuable tool in monitoring hypertension.
Home monitoring may also help alleviate White Coat
Hypertension. This term refers to the medical phenomena
which causes many individuals' blood pressure to be higher
when taken in a medical office setting. That's because many
times the stress of being in the doctor's office may cause
blood pressure to rise as much as 20-50 points higher than nor-
mal. When monitoring at home, you may get a truer indication
of your blood pressure in a normal, relaxed state.
What Is Blood Pressure?
The commonly used term "blood pressure" refers to
the force or pressure that is exerted on the
body' s arteries as blood flows through them.
Each time the heart beats or contracts, it
produces pressure in the arteries. This
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Commonly Asked Questions
blood pressure is what moves blood through the body,
supplying oxygen and nutrients to every organ.
When the heart contracts it sends blood out
into the body. This force of blood within the
arteries is called systolic
pressure.
The pressure that remains as
the heart relaxes between beats is called
diastolic pressure .
Blood pressure is
recorded as systolic
over diastolic, as
shown here.
systolic
diastolic
pulse
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