When you’re checking your blood pressure, sometimes you might find that it changes from one reading to the next, or maybe you’ve had a change in your health and want to watch your blood pressure more closely. The American Heart Association recommends in this case to check and recheck blood pressure in both morning and evening for several days. So if your blood pressure tends to bounce around a lot, read on to learn how to make your readings more accurate.
WHY IS BASELINE IMPORTANT?
Your blood pressure fluctuates drastically throughout the day depending on your
- Stress levels
- Sleep
- Activity level
- Hydration
- How much you ate at your last meal
- Alcohol and smoking intake
- And even the diet quality in the last 3 days
The American Heart Association (AHA) understands that this natural fluctuation is normal, but can result in misdiagnosis when blood pressure is not measured often or is not measured at a variety of times.
HOW IT WORKS
The first day of the baseline should begin with morning readings. Your daily routine should look a little like this:
- Take a measurement in the morning
- Wait 15 seconds, and the system will start a second measurement automatically. This is a measurement-pair.
- Do this pair again in the evening
- Complete a morning and evening pair for 3 days
In the end, you will have done around 12 blood pressure readings to complete this baseline. Our system will also give you a summary of the data with insights, once the baseline is completed. Your week should have at least 3 days where you've done successful double-measurements in both morning and evening.
WHAT IS THE BASELINE?
The baseline is a measuring method for blood pressure that is meant to capture
- The times when blood pressure is typically lowest (mornings), along with
- The times that blood pressure is typically highest (evenings).
Capturing the baseline helps professionals better evaluate if treatment methods are working, as well as if other changes need to be made.
CHECK IT WHEN
- You are new to blood pressure monitoring
- You get a new blood pressure monitor
- There is a change in blood pressure medication
- 4 weeks after a change in blood pressure medication
- You’ve significantly changed your eating pattern, sleep schedule, or exercise routine
- You recently got discharged from the hospital
- You measure blood pressure infrequently (even if your blood pressure is usually normal
Takeaways
So whether your blood pressure bounces around a lot, you’ve just changed your routine or medications, or your blood pressure is very stable and you just want to spot-check it, doing this 3-day process for checking your blood pressure and re-assessing your baseline is crucial to giving the doctor and your care team an accurate look into what your vitals really are. Go ahead and start the process in our app!