The Right Way to Check Your Blood Pressure at Home | A Doctor Explains

Thank you. Good advice. Nurses in Drs office need to watch this. They take BP when we just ran down the hallway to a chair in Drs office. We're not even sitting in right position. Arm is lower than my heart, feet not flat on floor. If I question it, response? "no it doesn't matter!"

Your cuff should be back toward your shoulder about an inch from where you have it and it needs to be rotated so that the tube is pointing toward your palm, as per instructions on the BP machine. The tube is serving the purpose of air pump as well as stethoscope. So the place where the tube leaves the cuff needs to be over your Brachial artery. I suspect that having the tube straighter is also helpful.

In Ireland if you get a high blood pressure reading when you visit the Doctor, they give you a monitor which you have to wear for a day and night and then you return it the next morning for them to assess it and make a judgement on how they should treat you.

My nurse took my BP with a thin sweater on & was 146/81 then 126/81…. I ended up purchasing my own monitor because I am pregnant & this monitor will be a life saver 🙏 Never had BP issues

Thank-You for being calm and friendly. Makes a difference. I know I get scared that I'm going to get bad news. One time I was told I had cancer and the tests hadn't even come back yet. It was a very hard time in my life. No one should be told they have cancer unless they have the tests to prove it.

I picked up one of those Omron monitors - very similar to the one you're using. My FNP told me during my last checkup that my BP was low, and I had an irregular heartbeat. I've seen a Cardiologist and showed him the readings I've kept track of since getting that monitor. He said the readings all looked good even with the occasional irregularity. He did say if I felt any symptoms as you described to get to the nearest ER. So far, so good (I'm 74).

After moving to a new house, I lost track of my BP monitor and started feeling symptoms similar to my time before being prescribed a BP drug. I found it yesterday and my BP was 170/75 and that had me worried, but this AM it was 137/74, then I urinated and it was 119/70. My symptoms seem less urgent now, but still worthy of a conversation with my physician. (I've never been sitting in a chair when they take my BP in a doctor's office.)

This video was much more informative and therefore more helpful, than I thought it would be. Thank you for the effort you put into this video, it is very much appreciated.

Thank you so much for explaining it the way you did. Recently I had an incident of dehydration; working as a cna an 8 hr shift and drinking no water the whole shift due to a busy night. I'm healthy and hydrated morning and usually all day otherwise. It's a second shift job that this incident occured on. I woke up the next day ;dry mouth, a little fog headed. It has happened to me before, but this would be the first time taking my blood pressure ever, when I was dehydrated. It was pretty high and I was scared. I didn't know if it was from being dehydrated or what?! Needless to say , I took my bp so many times for the next 5 days, with no good explanation on how to actually correctly and calmly to get a accurate reading. It's better 5 days later, but watching your video made so much sense and made me even more at ease. Thank you for posting and for everything you do for many humans! You're a good man ❤❤🙏🙏🙏

By experiment I had found many of these. For example I found that the blood pressure was always up by 10 to 15 counts at the doctors compared to it being taken at the blood bank. Taken immediately after extreme exercise it was very high. I used to find that if I took three readings spaced by a few minutes that the numbers continued to fall. But with relaxing for quite a few minutes after putting the cuff on the three readings tend to be a lot more consistent. I have to assume that they are valid.

Thank you very much Dr. Blake. It is a great video with a lot of information presented in a simplistic manner. Hats off to you!!👏👏👏

One thing that's always puzzled me, is, we take all these extra steps at home (sitting, calm, wait 5 minutes, arm supported on table, etc), but yet when I'm at a doctors office, they do none of these things-- in fact I've often had them take my blood pressure immediately after getting off the weight scale, and usually while they're also taking my temperature and putting the oxygen sensor on my index finger. I used to think I had "white coat syndrome" but maybe it's because they're rushing to do everything at once? Thoughts?

I found when visiting the docs is to breath in slowly thro your nose for 4 seconds and exhale that air out of your mouth for 8 seconds Works for me every time !! It’s calming

This is great advice! As an anxious person I have found that reading some text while checking my blood pressure is also a good distraction. Otherwise, I tend to think too much, which does not help my blood pressure readings!

Just love how you explain and bring up the facts and nuances that matter the most. Just last week, one of the nurses took my BP reading by putting around the cuff with my sweater on. I asked her and she said its okay. The readings were high and she did the second time and it was a bit lower but still high. She told me to even stretch my hand to point downwards. It was all mess. I came home and took the readings, and it was right and to my expectation. Wah! she should definitely practice mindfulness before doing BP on patients. Thank you, again doctor. I wish all my doctors were like you. Most of the doctors I visit somehow tend to be in a hurry and gives me a feeling that I should get out of the room. Amen.

This was so useful thank you I’m struggling with my blood pressure lately everything I was doing was wrong now I’ll give a try now you’ve explained how to do it at home thank you much

Great video. Very clear and you get right to it. I also love that you shared your actual readings. You're human! Thank you

Thank you so much for this video. I am a nurse in a heart failure clinic. When we get new patients who are newly diagnosed with heart failure, we give them a kit that includes a BP monitor. I always teach them how to use the monitor and have them teach back. This is a great reference tool for them if they forget how to use the monitor.

Thank you so much for the information. I am glad to hear this. You made simple to understand.

Thank you Doctor, I was checking my BP along with you and it was "pretty good"!!