Home Blood Pressure Machine Provides Much-Needed Consistency

Having your own blood pressure machine means you can check whenever and wherever you want with accuracy and consistency – because there’s a little-known secret about those manual BP monitors that doctors, nurses and hospitals use: Numbers can vary depending on who takes the reading and how good they are at it.

With a home blood pressure machine like the MOBI Health Arm Blood Pressure Monitor, you can get results that are consistent and reliable every time. While variations are natural, normal and always possible, using the same machine every time means you get accurate results that you can compare to other readings so you can see a trend.

But what about those BP machines in public places that you can use for free? Who knows when they were last checked or repaired and whether they were accurate to begin with. For consistency, it makes sense to use the same machine in the same way every time.

Fluctuations In Blood Pressure Are Normal

As mentioned, some fluctuation in blood pressure is normal. Your numbers naturally vary throughout the day – and that’s one of the best reasons for having a home blood pressure machine. You can check your readings several times a day and average them for a more accurate picture of the situation than you can get in a single doctor’s appointment.

Here are some controllable and not-so-controllable reasons your blood pressure may fluctuate more than usual:

White-coat syndrome. Some research suggests that as many as 20 percent of people believed to have elevated blood pressure suffer from stress that’s related to being at a doctor’s office and don’t have high BP at other times. Testing with a home blood pressure machine can help eliminate white-coat syndrome as the cause of your troubling numbers.

Masked hypertension. Less common than white-coat syndrome, some people have blood pressure readings that are normal at a doctor’s office but dangerously high at other times. Testing at home can give you the data you need to bring masked hypertension to a medical professional’s attention.

Time of the day. Blood pressure readings are usually at a low ebb during sleep and rise for several hours during the day. In late afternoon, they begin to fall again. That means an early afternoon reading that’s higher than an early morning number is usually fine.

Ambient temperature. Blood pressure usually goes up when you’re cold and down when you’re hot. Cold temps constrict blood vessels, making more pressure necessary for your blood to pump throughout your body effectively. In warm temps, blood vessels naturally relax. Humidity and atmospheric pressure can also have an impact on your BP numbers.

Stress level. The stresses of the day can cause temporarily elevated blood pressure. This can include work and personal stress as well as stress related to your health. To get this under control, try to eliminate stressers and try relaxation techniques, meditation and behavioral and attitude shifts.

OTC cold medicines. Many people are surprised to learn that over-the-counter cold medicines can raise blood pressure. Some that might have this impact are pseudoephedrine, phenylephrine and oxymetazoline.

A variety of other factors. There are a large number of other factors and situations that can raise blood pressure temporarily, including:

• Exercise, in particular weightlifting
• A full bladder, which can raise the first number by 10 to15mmHg
• Foods containing tyramine, including strong aged cheeses, beer and processed meat
• Drugs including isocarboxazid, phenelzine, selegiline and tranylcypromine
• Caffeine, which has potentially dramatic effects
• And many others.

The Right Home Blood Pressure Machine For You

The MOBI Health Arm Blood Pressure Monitor is light, portable and easy to use, making it convenient to take your blood pressure whenever you think is best and wherever you are. This home blood pressure monitor has 120-reading memory capacity with time and date stamp, hypertension indicator alerts when your BP is over internationally recognized guidelines and also provides a pulse reading.

The unit can detect irregular heartbeats, is nearly silent and shuts down automatically to save power. It even comes with a carrying case, making it perfect for travel.

If you have a particularly large or small arm, get better results without discomfort with the MOBI Health Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor. The unit is also ultra-discreet and quiet, so you can use it in a public place and the people around you may not notice.

Taking your blood pressure yourself under consistent conditions can help you determine if you really have high BP, keep a check on it if you do, and comply with your doctor’s instructions when you’re taking blood pressure medication. Simply put, a home blood pressure machine makes it easy for you to do the right thing.