Understanding the medical terms Blood pressure is the force of blood against the walls of the artery. Hypertension means high blood pressure. Brachial artery is a blood vessel that goes from your shoulder to just below your elbow. You measure the pressure in this artery. Systolic pressure is the highest pressure in an artery when your heart is pumping blood to your body. Diastolic pressure is the lowest pressure in an artery when your heart is at rest. Blood pressure measurement is made up of both the systolic and the diastolic pressure. It is normally written like this: 120/80, with the systolic number first.

What do I need to do before I measure my blood pressure?

• Don't use caffeine, alcohol, or tobacco or plenty of water 30 minutes before measuring your blood pressure.
• Go to the bathroom before measuring your blood pressure.
• Rest for 3 to 5 minutes before measuring your blood pressure. Do not talk.
• Sit in a comfortable position, with your legs and ankles uncrossed and your back supported.
• Place your arm, raised to the level of your heart, on a table or a desk, and sit still.
• Wrap the correctly sized cuff smoothly and snugly around the upper part of your bare arm. The cuff should fit snugly, but there should be enough room for you to slip one fingertip under the cuff. Remember you should not wrap cuff on your shirt, cuff should always be wraped around your arm skin.
• Be certain that the bottom edge of the cuff is 1 inch above the crease of your elbow.

How do I use an aneroid monitor?

1. Put the stethoscope ear pieces into your ears, with the ear pieces facing forward. Rest assure that stethoscope is working properly by checking it by knocking at its diaphragm by finger.
2. Place the stethoscope disk on the inner side of the crease of your elbow.
3. Rapidly inflate the cuff by squeezing the rubber bulb to 30 to 40 points higher than your last systolic reading. Inflate the cuff rapidly, not just a little at a time. Inflating the cuff too slowly will cause a false reading.
4. Slightly loosen the valve and slowly let some air out of the cuff. Deflate the cuff by 2 to 3 millimeters per second. If you loosen the valve too much, you won't be able to determine your blood pressure unless you are so expert like doctors.
5. As you let the air out of the cuff, you will begin to hear your heartbeat. Listen carefully for the first sound. Check the blood pressure reading by looking at the pointer on the dial. This number will be your systolic pressure.
6. Continue to deflate the cuff. Listen to your heartbeat. You will hear your heartbeat stop at some point. Check the reading on the dial. This number is your diastolic pressure.
7. Write down your blood pressure, putting the systolic pressure before the diastolic pressure (for example, 120/80).
8. If you want to repeat the measurement, wait 2 to 3 minutes before reinflating the cuff.
9. So when you take BP, first sound that appears will show your systolic BP, and BP at which this sound disappears will be your diastolic BP.

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