Blood Pressure Test

Blood pressure is the force of flow inside an artery. Measurement is taken by temporarily controlling the flow in an artery. This is usually by inflating a cuff around the upper arm, and then listening for the sound of the flow through the artery again as air is released from the cuff.

The tests measures two numbers. This is the pressure in your body when the heart pumps, which is highest, and then when the heart is at rest, which is lowest. Theoretically, the two numbers give you a range of what your blood pressure is like at its highest and lowest numbers. So, if the pressure reading is "140/80", said as "140 over 80", then the idea is that the pressure is always in the range of 80 to 140, depending on whether the heart pumps or not.

Home pressure monitors make it easy to take a test at home. If the patient believes that there are symptoms or if his family has a history of high blood pressure, he can consider getting a home pressure monitor. Home pressure monitoring provides a measurement of your pressure at different times and in different environments. It may be done to:

• Establish diagnosis based on the pressure tests.

• Monitor the effects of medications and treatments taken to lower pressure.

• Monitor the effects of changes in lifestyle, diet, and other factors which can contribute towards lowering pressure.

• Self monitoring can help people to be more involved in and more in control of their own health care.

• Monitor low pressure caused by irregular heart beats, medications, or other medical factors

The two general types of commonly available monitors to take pressure tests are manual and automatic. Automatic types may also be called electronic or digital. Whatever be the type of blood pressure monitors, it is essential that the equipment should never give a wrong reading since it can lead to a series of wrong diagnoses, treatments and maybe even surgeries.

Also read our article about Blood Pressure Machines