What Is Blood Pressure; Why Is It Useful To Measure Blood Pressure At Home - Citizen CH-617 Instruction Manual

1

. What is blood pressure ?

Blood pressure is a measurement of the force of blood owing
against the walls of the arteries. Arterial blood pressure is
constantly changing during the course of the cardiac cycle.
The highest pressure in the cycle is called the systolic blood
pressure, the lowest is the diastolic blood pressure. Both
pressure readings, the systolic and the diastolic are necessary
to enable a physician to evaluate the status of a patient's blood
pressure. Many factors such as physical activity, anxiety or the
time of day, can in uence your blood pressure. Blood pressure
is typically low in the morning and increases from the afternoon
to the evening. It is lower in the summer and higher in the
winter.
2
. Why is it useful to measure blood pressure
at home ?
Having one's blood pressure measured by a doctor in a
hospital or a clinic, and a group health checks, tend to stimulate
nervousness in the subject and may even create high blood
pressure. Also varies blood pressure in accordance with a
variety of conditions and so judgment is not possible on the
basis of a single measurement.
The blood pressure measured rst thing in the morning after
getting up, before taking any food and with the subject still, is
known as the fundamental blood pressure. In practice it is rather
dif cult to record the fundamental blood pressure, but to come
2