Measuring blood pressure at home

Home monitors are genuinely useful, and most of the readings people bring to appointments are unusable — taken straight after climbing stairs, with the arm hanging down, over a sleeve.

How to get a reading worth having

• Sit for five quiet minutes first. No tea, no smoking, no exercise in the half hour before.
• Back supported, feet flat on the floor, legs uncrossed.
• Bare arm resting on a table, cuff at the level of the heart.
• Do not talk during the measurement.
• Take two readings a minute apart and record both.

What to do with the numbers

Keep a simple log with date and time — morning and evening is the usual pattern — and take it to appointments. A trend across two weeks tells a doctor far more than any single reading.

Do not change a dose based on a home reading. That is a conversation, not a decision to make at the table.