Why Monitor Blood Pressure At Home?

In the United States alone, there are approximately 50 million people who suffer from hypertension or high blood pressure. About a third of this group experience uncontrolled hypertension. A further third are either unaware or have not been diagnosed because there are often no symptoms and life goes on as if normal.

The dangerous thing is by the time these symptoms appear, serious internal damage would have occurred manifesting itself either in the form of a heart attack, a stroke or kidney failure, often with life threatening consequences.

The sad part is that it can affect anybody, not just the elderly - The young and seemingly fit can also fall victim to this sickness at any time. Evidence suggests this is caused in part by today's fast paced, high stress, poor diet and often sedentary lifestyles that plague our modern society. We can ill-afford to take this risk lightly.

So what can we do? Annual medical checks are a definite must for everybody for the purpose of diagnosis. However, this may not be frequent enough for early detection or control. The panel of the American Society of Hypertension had recommended taking daily or twice daily blood pressure readings in the mornings & evenings.

Home monitoring is the easy next step you can take to reduce high blood pressure risk or improve your condition. Digital blood pressure monitors are nowadays most popular as they are simple to use, affordable, fast, accurate & portable. They can be nearly as small as the size of a cell phone connected by a cuff to the upper arm, forearm, wrist and even on a finger.

Lifesource Quick Response Blood Pressure Monitor UA-787EJ 1 Each - $ 123.55



How accurate are they? Digital blood pressure monitors have come a long way since its first invention. Many have been tested according to the strict protocols of the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instruments (AAMI), British Hypertension Society (BHS) and European Society of Hypertension (ESH), fully meeting the criteria of these protocols. Moreover, the known effects of ‘White Coat Hypertension’ - which commonly relates to higher blood pressure readings when measured in an unfamiliar clinical environment may be avoided to yield better measurement results. Digital blood pressure monitors are also easily read as the numbers are directly displayed on the screen without any guesswork.

Is there a best brand? Digital blood pressure monitors are highly competitive. New and improved models are constantly being introduced to the market. Everyone will claim their model sports the best features, highest accuracies, etc. Indeed, they can only get better. However, we will say the current major brand players in the global market are Omron, Panasonic, Samsung, LifeSource, etc. Omron presently is the global market leader for home blood pressure monitors with a market share of around 65%. Seven of its models made the top ten list as reported in 2007. Which brand or model best fits you depends largely on the following:

• Where do you plan to take your blood pressure? This establishes how portable the unit needs to be.
• Is it for personal use or for the family/friends? The determines the ruggedness required of the unit.
• Your preference for taking measurements i.e. upper arm, forearm, wrist or on a finger?
• Memory storage required to keep track of your readings?
• Would you like to download data to your computer to track progress?
• Finally, your required price range vis-a-vis features.

At the end of the day, keeping healthy through regular exercise, proper dieting and a balanced lifestyle with good stress management is the best prevention for high blood pressure. A home digital blood pressure monitor will go a long way in helping you track your fitness & well-being mitigating risks of developing high blood pressure for you & your loved ones.