Why does your blood pressure change?

Sometimes, when you go to the doctor, your blood pressure is surprisingly high, compared to the readings that you get on your blood pressure monitor at home. Most people simply assume that their monitor at home is innacurate, but this is not the case.

What it probably is is a phenomenon called “white coat hypertension”. This happens when a patient is subconsciously made nervous by the doctor’s presence (hence the name "white coat") and as a result his blood pressure rises. Even if you think that you are perfectly relaxed, your blood pressure can shoot up by as much as 15 points just like that.

Another possibility is that it is just a normal variation in daily blood pressure. Changes of up to 30 mmHg within a short time are perfectly normal, depending on what you are doing, especially if you are doing a physical activity such as sport or are under stress.

It might also be that your doctor is not measuring your blood pressure correctly. He might be using antiquated equipment that is not calibrated or suitable for a modern day examination. More often than not, if two doctors measure the blood pressure of a same patient using their own equipment, they will get different results. More often than not, doctors have a "digit preference", where they round up the result of the blood pressure test to the nearest five, so 138/92 becomes 140/90. This is one of the undeniable advantages of digital blood pressure monitors, in that they are much less dependent on user skill than the traditional devices.

Have a great day
Uwe DIEGEL

http://www.medactiv.com
http://www.healthworksglobal.net