The Value Of Blood Pressure Monitoring And Using A Blood Pressure Chart

Alterations to our lifestyle and diet mean that an increasing number of people are suffering from high blood pressure and it is crucial for us to monitor our blood pressure regularly. Happily this no longer means having to trek to the doctors surgery and the wide range of easy to use and reasonably inexpensive monitors available today permits us to measure our blood pressure in the comfort of our own homes. But, although measuring our pressure might be easy enough, interpreting the resulting figures is quite another matter.

Blood pressure will differ from person to person and also fluctuates according to such things as what we eat and the time of day. Because of this we are not able to say that normal blood pressure is a fixed reading and that should you be more than so many points above or below these you should consult your doctor. What we are able to do however is to define a series of bands which correspond to various degrees of high and low blood pressure around a set of baseline readings which apply to the majority of people and that is precisely what a blood pressure chart does.

A traditional blood chart is a graphic representation of a wide range of blood pressure readings below and above the norm together with an indication of what the bands tell you about your blood pressure.

For instance, if you were to take a blood pressure reading and come up with a systolic reading of 138 and a diastolic reading of 86, it is quite possible that this will not mean very much to you, apart from the fact that it might seem a little bit high. However, if you draw a line on a blood pressure chart joining the high systolic reading on the left of the chart and the lower diastolic reading on the right of the chart you will find that the line lies in a band which is a little above normal and that, although it is close to the borderline for high blood pressure, it is nonetheless still within an acceptable range.

Likewise, if you came up with a reading of 146 over 98 this would be classed as a mild case of hypertension. Nevertheless, the chart would also show that this reading in isolation should not be a cause for concern and might merely be the result of taking your blood pressure early in the morning when your pressure is usually slightly high or of recording it shortly after you have eaten something with a high fat content or which is salty.

Blood pressure charts of this nature can be extremely helpful in providing you with a snapshot of your pressure at any given moment but perhaps a better chart would be a daily blood pressure chart which is plotted over a reasonable period of time.

The majority of modern blood pressure monitors have the ability to store your readings and they can either be printed out and hand plotted on graph paper or can be used in conjunction with one of several widely available software packages to draw a colorful picture of your blood pressure over the past few weeks or months.

Whichever method you select there is little question that having a picture of your blood pressure over time can make monitoring your health a lot easier.

TheBloodPressureCenter.com provides information on choosing the best home blood pressure monitor and on using a daily blood pressure chart