With the popularization and improvement of scientific and cultural knowledge, many hypertensive patients have become aware of the importance of blood pressure control. Since blood pressure is fluctuating at any time, it is often difficult to reflect the usual blood pressure level at rest by hospital measurements alone. Therefore, doctors now encourage hypertensive patients to measure their own blood pressure at home. However, in hypertension clinics, it is common to hear people complain that their sphygmomanometer is not accurate or that the nurse did not measure it correctly. In fact, this is a lack of understanding of how blood pressure is generated and measured. There are many factors that affect blood pressure. The so-called blood pressure is the lateral pressure generated by the blood through the heartbeat on the large blood vessels, and theoretically one heartbeat results in one blood pressure. Since the heartbeat is enhanced or diminished at any time by changes in the nervous system and endocrine system, blood pressure also fluctuates frequently. In addition, there are slight differences in the blood vessels of the two arms. Therefore, measurements may also be inconsistent from arm to arm. Some people have normal blood pressure at home, but when they go to the hospital, their blood pressure increases unconsciously, which is medically called “clinic hypertension” or “white coat effect. If medication is administered according to the hospital’s measurements, it may fall too low or cause waste of medication. Therefore, medical experts now advocate that patients measure their own blood pressure every day at home. 1, to buy a blood pressure monitor. There are many blood pressure monitors of various models on the market, such as fully automatic, semi-automatic blood pressure monitors, and also mercury column blood pressure monitors. Generally speaking, as long as you follow the instructions carefully, most of them are still relatively accurate. The main point of operation is that the inflatable capsule inside the cuff should be fixed 2-3 cm above the elbow joint, near the inside of the body, with a palpable brachial artery pulsation below. Each measurement should be fixed on the same side of the arm, with the side with the higher blood pressure being the preferred one. If it is a wrist sphygmomanometer, the airbag should be placed on the wrist on the palm side of the hand, not the wrist on the back of the hand. If it is a mercury column type sphygmomanometer with manual inflation, it is best to ask someone else to measure you, because you need to force yourself to pump, which can easily cause blood pressure to rise and affect the measurement results. 2, the time of measurement. The human body’s blood pressure fluctuates at any time with exercise or sleep and other physiological conditions. Each person’s blood pressure changes differently. Generally the highest in the morning, the lowest at night, some people can also rise again in the evening to form a small peak. Therefore, the initial measurement should be taken several times a day, and after the blood pressure is controlled normally, it can be measured once a day in the morning and once a day in the evening. 3, the method of measurement. It should be measured in a sitting or lying position after 5-15 minutes of quiet rest. Sitting measurement arm should be natural forward, blood pressure meter and heart position, not hard upward lifting arm; arm clothing can not be too much, preferably only in a shirt outside the sleeve measurement. Simply pulling up the sleeve of a thicker outer garment will not work because the shoulder sleeve is too tight and will compress the blood vessels and make the measurement result low; at the same time, too many shoulder sleeves will inevitably affect the position of the cuff compression and make the measurement fail. Usually a fully automatic blood pressure monitor will automatically display three numbers. The first number is the systolic pressure, which is often referred to as high pressure; the second number is the diastolic pressure, also known as low pressure. The legal unit of measurement for pressure is the kilopascal (Kp), but customarily blood pressure is expressed in millimeters of mercury (mmHg), and both are currently available, with 1 Kp = 7.5 mmHg. customarily recorded as: systolic pressure / diastolic pressure mmHg.; the third number is the heart rate. The unit of heart rate is the number of heartbeats per minute (times/minute), which is derived from the interval of the measured pulse in the fully automatic blood pressure monitor, and each measurement is only counted for ten seconds or so, so the accuracy is low and can only be used as a reference. The blood pressure is measured formally, usually three times. The first time, because the instrument and the body have a process of adaptation, the number may be different, so you can ignore it. The second and third measurements should be closer. Because blood pressure changes frequently with the heartbeat and the elasticity of the blood vessels, it is normal to get three different values from three measurements, not because there is a problem with your blood pressure monitor. The average of the second and third blood pressure measurements can be recorded as the blood pressure at that time. If you still have doubts, then you can take the blood pressure monitor to the hospital for a control measurement. 4, the normal range of blood pressure. According to the new standards set by the World Health Organization and China in 2004, regardless of gender and age, normal blood pressure should be controlled below 140/90 mmHg (millimeters of mercury); if there are complications such as diabetes, coronary heart disease and cardiac insufficiency, blood pressure should be controlled below 125/85 mmHg; some elderly people simply have an increased systolic blood pressure of more than 140 mmHg and a diastolic blood pressure that is not high, at Some elderly people who simply have an increased systolic blood pressure of more than 140 mmHg and a diastolic blood pressure of less than 90 mmHg are called systolic hypertension and should also be treated with blood pressure lowering. This is not a concern, as long as there is no dizziness and other symptoms, diastolic pressure is safe even if it drops to 65 mmHg. 5, careful record. Record your feelings and blood pressure as well as your medication every day, and review your consultation at a regular hospital or doctor’s office regularly. Adjust your treatment plan appropriately according to your condition and climate change.