If you have hypertension, it's important to check your blood pressure regularly. Unfortunately, though, many people have "lab coat syndrome," (AKA "white coat syndrome") meaning that their blood pressure skyrockets when approached by a medical professional wearing a dreaded stethoscope. Taking readings at home (and/or at work) will allow you to estimate your average blood pressure measurements in day-to-day, real-life situations. While there are many digital blood pressure units on the market, the cheapest -- and arguably, most reliable -- instrument is the sphygmomanometer, or "manual kit," which is very similar to the unit your doctor uses.


Steps

1. Remove the cuff, stethoscope, pressure gauge, and bulb (also known as a "bladder") from the kit, taking care to untangle the various tubes.
2. Sit down at a table or desk where you can easily rest your arm so that when you bend your elbow, your elbow is parallel to your heart. (Some experts recommend you use your left arm; others suggest you test both arms. But while you're first adjusting to self-testing, use the left arm if you're right-handed, or vice versa.)
3. Gently place the stethoscope's ear pieces in your ears.
4. Bend the arm you're going to test.
5. Wrap the cuff around your arm, slipping the top part of the cuff through the metal bar that's attached to the cuff. Most cuffs have Velcro, making it easy to keep the cuff in place.
6. Make sure the cuff is snug, but not too tight -- if you cut off your circulation and become agitated, you're going to get an alarming blood pressure reading!
7. Place the wide head of the stethoscope on your skin just above the elbow, on the inside of the arm of the arm: that's the brachial artery. You will not normally hear a thumping until you have begun to inflate the cuff. To aid in finding this you can press two fingers (not your thumb) to the area where it should be and move around until you feel a pulse.
8. Take the other end of the sphygmomanometer -- the end with the pressure gauge or dial -- and look for a little clip on the back. Attach that clip to something sturdy, such as a hardcover book, that you can place on the table. It's important to keep the gauge anchored and stable.
9. Take the rubber bulb (or bladder) and tighten the little valve at the base; be sure to turn the valve all the way clockwise to shut it off.
10. Pump the bulb using slow but very steady pressure until the needle on the gauge is at about 20-30 points above your usual systolic (top) number. Now, gently start turning the bulb's valve counter-clockwise so that air is released slowly and steadily.
11. As you watch the needle fall back down the gauge, listen for a thumping sound. (The clinical name for this is "Korotkoff sounds.") Keep your eyes on the gauge -- when you first hear thumping, you have your systolic number, which represents the greatest amount of pressure exerted on the artery walls as your heart pumps blood.
12. Keep watching the gauge. When the thumping fades to silence, you have your diastolic (bottom) number, the lowest amount of pressure.

Tips

• Accept the fact that the first few times you try using a sphygmomanometer you'll likely make some mistakes and become frustrated. It takes a few tries to get the hang of this. Most kits come with instructions; be sure to read them.
• For best results, take a second reading five to ten minutes after your first reading. (You may want to test your other arm, too, for the second reading.) Blood pressure fluctuates within minutes (sometimes dramatically), and if you take two readings within about a ten-minute period, you can come up with an accurate average number.
• Take a reading when you're especially relaxed: that will give you an idea of how low you can go. But also force yourself to take a reading when you're upset, as unpleasant as that thought is; you need to know how high your blood pressure goes up when you're angry or frustrated.
• Keep a diary of your blood pressure readings. Note the time of day when you took the reading and whether it was just before you ate, before or after exercise, or when you were agitated.
• Give this diary to your doctor at your next appointment. Your doctor may be able to glean an important pattern or clue to your fluctuations in blood pressure.
• You may want to check your blood pressure about fifteen to thirty minutes after exercising (or meditating or other stress relief activities), to see if there is an improvement in your numbers. There should be an improvement, which will provide good incentive to keep up your exercise regimen! (Exercise, like diet, is key to controlling blood pressure.)
• If you don't prefer saying "BP cuff", then here is the pronunciation for sphygmomanometer according to dictionary.com:
  • /ËŒsfɪgmoÊŠməˈnÉ’mɪtÉ™r/ or [sfig-moh-muh-nom-i-ter]

Warnings

• Your blood pressure becomes elevated when you smoke, eat, or consume caffeinated beverages. You may want to wait until an hour after smoking, eating, or drinking coffee or cola, to take a reading.
• Conversely, you may want to check your blood pressure just after smoking -- the elevation in numbers will be another inducement to kick the butts. (The same goes for caffeine if you know you're addicted to coffee or caffeinated sodas; and for salty foods, if snacks like chips and pretzels are your Achille's heel.)
• Do not hold the bell (aka. "head", "diaphragm") of the stethoscope with your thumb. The thumb has a beat of its own, which may interfere with the reading.