An
increasing number of people are developing hypertension each year given the
chaotic lifestyle, unhealthy dietary habits and sometimes their genetic
predisposition. In order to control the condition and preventing it from
worsening, it is extremely important that the patients monitor their blood
pressure regularly. It is quite obvious that visiting the doctor every other
day is not a feasible option. This is where the home health monitoring devices
come into the picture.
Blood pressure
monitors for checking blood pressure at home are all the rage right now. Not
only do they offer convenience but also motivate the user to enhance their
lifestyle and gain control over the condition. The market is flooded with
hundreds of blood pressure monitoring devices. But which one is right for you?
What should your blood pressure monitor have that will make it worth all the
money you spend? Let’s talk about it.
How does the Blood Pressure
Monitor Work?
The blood
pressure is expressed in terms of two numbers one over the other. The normal
blood pressure is 120 over 80 or 120/80 mm of Hg. The 120 is the systolic
pressure and 80 is the diastolic pressure. A person with pre-hypertension
pressure exhibits the systolic blood pressure in the range of 120-139 and the
diastolic pressure in the range of 80-89. A person with full-blown hypertension
has the systolic pressure of 140 or above and the diastolic pressure of 90 or
above.
Now you
might be wondering, what do systolic and diastolic mean? Systolic pressure is
the pressure of blood in the arteries which is created every time the
ventricles of the heart contract and push oxygenated blood out into the body.
Diastolic pressure is the blood pressure in the arteries when the ventricles
relax in between in the contractions.
The blood
pressure monitor measures the arterial blood pressure at these two instances,
i.e., contraction and relaxation of the ventricles of the heart. The
sphygmomanometer used by the doctors is a complex device and not everybody can
use it and interpret the readings correctly. To make blood pressure monitoring
at home hassle free, the makers of the blood pressure monitors have been
striving to simplify and automate the device.
Regular
monitoring of blood pressure is important for patients of pre-hypertension to
detect any health problems early ahead and to manage the anomaly in a better
manner. Similarly, hypertension patients need routine checkups to make sure
their medication and changes in diet and lifestyle are making a positive
difference.
What to
Look for When Shopping for a Blood Pressure Monitor?
- Type of Blood Pressure Monitors
It goes
without saying that you must go for the fully automatic, digital blood pressure
monitor. But there are 3 subtypes as well. Some monitors measure the blood
pressure at your finger while some are supposed to measure the pressure at the
wrist. However, the monitors that are designed to measure blood pressure at the
upper arm are your best bet. They are way more accurate than the other two
variants. The cuff is supposed to be worn in the center, right between the
elbow and the shoulder joint. Doctors advise against using monitors that
measure the blood pressure at the finger because they are very inaccurate.
- Size of the Cuff
When it
comes to cuff size, there is no ‘one size fits all’. Most blood pressure
monitoring devices come with medium-size cuffs, which would be too big for
children and too small for well-built or obese individuals. In that case, you
might want to order a separate cuff that would fit your arm well. Here is a
guide of cuff length in centimeter corresponding to the small, medium and large
size.
o
Large
– 32 to 45 centimeters
o
Medium
– 22 to 32 centimeters
o
Small
– 18 to 22 centimeters
- Automated Operations
The blood
pressure monitoring device should offer a one-touch operation. Once the cuff is
wrapped around the arm and the device turned on, the cuff inflates
automatically. The device is equipped with the fuzzy logic mechanism and it is
programmed to know how much the cuff should inflate and when it should deflate.
The device then records the systolic and diastolic pressures as well as the
pulse rate.
- Vivid Display
No matter
how sophisticated your blood pressure monitor is, it makes no sense if you
cannot make sense what is displayed on the screen. A good blood pressure
monitor should have a nice, bright and larger LED screen. The characters
appearing on the screen should be large enough, dark and bold to avoid any
incidence of misreading the results. The screen should display the heart rate,
both systolic and diastolic pressures simultaneously.
- After-Sales Services
Blood pressure
monitoring devices need to be recalibrated after every one year or two. For
this purpose, you would need to send your device back to the manufacturer. So
before you finalize your purchases, make sure the manufacturer does indeed
offer the recalibration service. Also, enquire about the fees they charge for
the same.
- Range of Measurement
The range
for measuring systolic and diastolic pressures and heart rate is an
indispensable factor. Imagine you have hypertension and your blood pressure is
usually about 160/100 and your blood pressure monitor’s range end at 140/90!
How would you know what your blood pressure is at the moment if your device is
insufficient? So always make sure your device has an adequate range.
- Extra Features
It would be
nice to have a long battery life since the blood pressure monitors usually run
of 2 double-A batteries. Most of them have an inbuilt memory, sometimes with 2
different slots that store previous blood pressure readings separately for two
different users. For example, the Hicks N800 Fully Automatic Blood
Pressure Monitor
has a memory of 120 readings, for two users, 60 readings for each. The memory
definitely helps determine if your medication, exercise regimen and dietary and
other lifestyle changes are working or if there is a need to tweak your dosage.
It also calculates and displays the average of the previous three readings.
It goes
without saying that you get what you pay for. Your budget plays an important
role and the price of the device depends on its features. The prices range
between INR 1999 and INR 20000. We hope this write-up cleared your dilemmas and
that now you would be more confident while shopping for your new blood pressure
monitoring device.
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