How To Measure Blood Pressure 

Introduction

What’s blood pressure?

This is the amount of force blood the heart pumps round the body.

It is measured with an instrument known as Sphygmomanometer.

Types of blood pressure

You need to understand the two types of blood pressure, and they include:

1. Systolic blood pressure (1st number) :This is how much your blood pressure is raised against artery walls during heart beat.

2. Diastolic blood pressure (2nd number):This is the amount of blood pressure raised against your artery wall when your heart is resting.

How To measure Blood pressure

To measure your BP accurately, you need to know the five categories of blood pressure according to AMA (American Heart Association)

•  Normal blood pressure
•  Elevated blood pressure
• Hypertension stage 1
• Hypertension stage 2
• Hypertensive crisis.

1. Normal blood pressure

This is when the blood pressure is less than 120/80mmHg

Management

• Eat balanced diet
• Stick to healthy habit
• Regular exercise.

2. Elevated blood pressure
This is when systolic blood pressure ranges between 120-129 and diastolic pressure is less than 80mmHg

3. Hypertension stage 1
This is when the systolic pressure ranges between 130-139 mmHg and diastolic pressure is at the range of 80-89mmHg

Management

• Take medication for blood pressure.

4. Hypertension stage 2
This is when your blood pressure is above 180/120mmHg

Management

• Combination of BP medications & lifestyle.

5. Hypertensive crisis

However unsteady high BP can be as a result of hypertensive crisis

Symptoms include chest pain, back pain and change in vision.

Call 121 as you need medical urgency
Stay healthy and monitor your BP, Thanks for reading.