It’s May Measure Month - a health campaign aimed at getting everyone in the world to have their blood pressure checked.
Over 10 million lives worldwide are lost to high blood pressure every year and around ⅓ of people in the UK have high blood pressure, many of whom are undiagnosed. Yet, soaring blood pressure is responsible for strokes, heart attacks and other cardiovascular complications which kill, or seriously harm, hundreds of people every single day.
How to get involved
May Measurement Month is promoting two simple ways to get involved and quickly have your blood pressure checked.
The first option is to book an appointment with your GP or local health centre for a free blood pressure screening. It takes just a minute to check but could save your life.
The second option, if you’re unable to get to a surgery, is to measure your blood pressure at home. It’s a LOT easier than you might think and a validated blood pressure monitor is inexpensive to buy and incredibly simple to use.
In fact owning your own blood pressure monitor will allow you to regularly check and monitor your own levels as a great preventative health measure that you can control yourself as and when it suits you to test.
Why test at home?
Home blood pressure monitoring is an effective and inexpensive way to keep blood pressure under control and the evidence behind it continues to get stronger. You can test yourself very easily and cheaply using a simple home blood pressure monitor.
Home Monitoring allows you to take control of your health in your own time. It gives you a practical way to monitor your blood pressure health without the stress of visiting your GP or pharmacist, and it really can save your life.
Which blood pressure monitor should I buy?
It’s easier than ever to monitor your blood pressure in your own home. Check out our previous blog on how to measure your blood pressure at home for a quick and easy guide to getting it right.
Monitoring your levels takes just one minute and there are a huge amount of blood pressure measuring devices on the market. These are just a few that we would recommend, for between just £25 and £70:
Omron Comfort
What do the numbers mean?
A blood pressure reading consists of two numbers:
Systolic – The first number, which indicates pressure in the arteries when the heart beats.
Diastolic – The second number, which indicates pressure in the arteries when the heart relaxes between beats.
If the first number is 110 and the second number is 70, this would be written as 110/70. Blood pressure is measured in millimetres of mercury (mmHg) so the reading would be 110/70mmHg or may be referred to as 110 over 70.
You can use this chart to determine whether your blood pressure is within the healthy range. It's as simple as that!
This May Measure Month, why not invest in yourself and buy a home testing kit to keep your blood pressure under control.
If you’re at all concerned about your figures you should book an appointment to see your GP to chat about how you can keep your blood pressure at a healthy level. There are some great resources for checking blood pressure and keeping healthy on the NHS website.
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May 2022