The level of blood pressure may vary depending on the impact of various factors. Fluctuating blood pressure is significantly different in patients with hypertension or hypotension compared to people who do not have such health problems.
Despite the efforts of scientists and doctors, people are increasingly diagnosed with high or low blood pressure. Studies show that high blood pressure can be the cause of many cardiovascular diseases, such as myocardial infarction, stroke, and heart failure.
To prevent the risk of damage to the arteries, it is necessary to measure your blood pressure periodically to reveal the blood circulation problems in time and begin the appropriate treatment.
- You can independently measure your blood pressure using a sphygmomanometer device, as well as by means of special applications for smartphone.
Ask your doctor how to measure correctly systemic arterial pressure with a sphygmomanometer, also called the blood pressure gauge. When you regularly measure your blood pressure, it is recommended to take measurements at the same time, twice a day. Record your results and then show them to your doctor during the consultation. Typically, patients are given the following recommendations:
- Not to eat anything for half an hour before measuring blood pressure and to avoid using tonic drinks and physical activity;
- Not to take drugs stimulating metabolic and functional changes in the body, for example Adrenaline and Dopamine;
- Sit quietly on a chair with a backrest or lie down on the couch for about 5 minutes and herewith try to relax as much as possible immediately before measuring blood pressure;
- Take a comfortable position and avoid any muscle strain when the blood pressure is measured in the sitting position,;
- Your hand should be placed on a horizontal surface, for example on a table no matter what hand is used to;
- Several blood pressure measurements should be performed at an interval of at least 15 seconds to determine the average value to be recorded or memorized.
The number of people constantly using such mobile devices as smartphones is steadily increasing in the world. Technologies help people in many spheres of their life, including in solving health questions. Many blood pressure apps are being created that gain more and more popularity.
There are various blood pressure apps one can download free. The methods of measurement may vary. To get the data to determine the blood pressure, put your phone close to the left side of your chest and touch the camera with your finger, but sometimes to put the thumb on the screen is enough.
Using blood pressure apps for iPhone or Samsung, you can save statistics in a special diary set in the application. The measurements you made earlier can always be compared to your current blood pressure indicators. Identifying differences in the data of your blood pressure will help determine the tendency of the disease development or health improvement.
Some experiments in the use of blood pressure apps indicate that it is not always possible to identify correctly the person’s high blood pressure among the number of people participating in the researches. In particular, it is impossible to rely completely on the measurements results by this method because of the application insufficient sensitivity and its large error.
Some manufacturers of blood pressure apps for Android immediately warn that their product is designed to measure blood pressure only in a certain range of mm Hg. It is pointed out that if the blood pressure indicators go beyond the established range, then errors in the application work can be.
When experts’ observations were conducted on how blood pressure apps function, updates often appeared for the applications themselves improving their functionality, but these circumstances were not always taken into account by the researchers. In addition, many manufacturers state that blood pressure apps should not be considered as a medical device, therefore they do not recommend to compare them with conventional blood pressure measuring devices.