Nowadays, with the development of digital blood pressure monitor production technology, many people are willing to buy a blood pressure monitor at home to monitor blood pressure by themselves. In addition to buy a certificated electronic blood pressure monitor, measuring according to the product manual, and paying attention to what preparations should be made before blood pressure measurement, we should also notice the following issues.

1. Standards for blood pressure measurement at home

Generally, the maximum blood pressure measured at home cannot exceed 135/85mmHg, which is different from the diagnostic standard of 140/90mmHg in the hospital consulting room. Because probability will have "white coat hypertension" when measured in the hospital, and the blood pressure measured at home can more accurately reflect the actual blood pressure.

Besides, blood pressure measurement have time request that need to measure twice a day. The normal blood pressure value are different at the different times, for example, the blood pressure measured in the morning should not exceed 135/85mmHg and should not exceed 120/70mmHg after dinner and before bedtime. Otherwise, it indicates that the blood pressure is not well controlled, and it is necessary to find out the cause in time.

2. Times of measure blood pressure at home

Normally, keep blood pressure stable while lowering blood pressure is a basic requirement, since the stability of blood pressure is conforms to the change law of the human blood pressure. The blood pressure is 10% - 20% higher in the daytime than at night in 24 hours, whether the blood pressure is really controlled to meet the standard depends on whether there is such a change in the blood pressure throughout the day. Therefore, the blood pressure should be measured at least two times in one day, in the morning, it should be measured after getting up, before morning exercise and breakfast, in night,  it should be measured after dinner and before go to the bed.

In addition, it is necessary to measure blood pressure twice each time, because the electronic blood pressure machine captures the pulse wave generated by the pulsation of the artery and converts it into blood pressure reading through complex calculation, the first measurement is often affected by many factors, the measurement result may higher. The results of the second measurement are often 5-10mmHg lower than the first measurement and can better reflect the actual blood pressure, so the results of the second measurement are often recorded. It should be noted that if the difference between the first and second measurement results is too large, such as more than 10mmHg, then need to third measurement, and the average value of the second and third results is calculated as the result.

3. Pay attention to the speed of heart rate

Epidemiological studies have confirmed that even if the blood pressure of hypertensive patients is controlled within the target range, but if the heart rate is too fast, the risk of cardiovascular events and death will increase significantly. In this regard, the newly released Multidisciplinary Expert Consensus on Heart Rate Management for Hypertensive Patients in China on April 1, 2021 has set a clear goal for heart rate control: for hypertensive patients, the heart rate should not exceed 80 times/minute when measured in the hospital, and 75 times/minute when measured at home. If hypertension complications such as coronary heart disease have occurred, the heart rate should not exceed 60 times/minute.

It is important to note that the heart rate mentioned above refers to the heart rate in a resting state.The resting heart rate will not change significantly during the day, the blood pressure will increase when the resting heart rate increases, and vice versa. Therefore, hypertensive patients should have a good habit of counting their pulse frequently, and learn the number of heart rates through the number of pulse. The method is take a quiet rest for 5 minutes, count your pulse for no less than 30 seconds to count your heart rate.