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High Blood Pressure: Checking Your Blood Pressure at Home
Key points
- When blood pressure is high, it starts to damage the blood vessels, heart, and kidneys. This can lead to heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, and other problems. But if you don't measure your blood pressure, you won't know when it's high, because there are usually no symptoms.
- If you are a healthy adult with normal blood pressure (119/79 or below), have your blood pressure checked at least every 1 to 2 years.1
- If your systolic blood pressure (the first number) is 120 to 139 and/or your diastolic blood pressure (the second number) is 80 to 89, you are prehypertensive. This means that your blood pressure is higher than normal but not high enough to be high blood pressure. It is a warning that your blood pressure is going up. If you are in this category, you should have your blood pressure checked as often as your doctor advises, or at least once a year.
- Adults with other risk factors for heart disease or evidence of disease caused by high blood pressure need to have their blood pressure checked more often.
- A home blood pressure monitor makes it easy to keep track of your blood pressure.
What is blood pressure?
Why should you measure
your own blood pressure?
How to take your blood pressure at home
Where to go from here
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| By: | Healthwise Staff | Last Revised: April 5, 2011 |
| Medical Review: | E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine Robert A. Kloner, MD, PhD - Cardiology | |
© 1995-2011 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
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