How To Take Blood Pressure Without Equipment

Would you like to take your blood pressure without having to purchase some of the expensive equipment that is available at your local pharmacy? You can sometimes get great deals, but you are still looking at spending money that you may not have, and you simply want to check your blood pressure area. It’s not that hard to do, but you do need to know a few things before you attempt to do this on your own. You will need to know what to look for, how to make the reading, and different ways to do this without needing any type of medical equipment at all. This article will address how blood flows throughout the body, what diastolic and systolic actually mean, and how you can take your blood pressure without equipment using the help of a friend.

How Blood Flows Through The Body

Withings Blood Pressure MonitorThe first thing that you need to know before you try to take your blood pressure without any equipment is how blood flows throughout the body. As your heart beats, it is going to pump blood throughout what is called your vascular system. This is what needs to be done to get oxygen and nutrients from the blood to the cells throughout your body, allowing you to exist. It must flow through arteries, and the arteries must be pressurized, and this is how you will be able to tell what your blood pressure actually is. The reason that checking your blood pressure is so important is because the higher your blood pressure becomes, the higher the probability that tissue and organ damage will occur, whereas people that have low blood pressure are actually starving the cells of their body. Now that you know that your heart, by pumping blood throughout your body, is causing pressure within your veins and arteries to occur. It is this pressure which you will use to your advantage when making a blood pressure reading.

Look For A Pulse

Now you will want to look for a pulse, and it’s very easy to find one. When touching one of the carotid arteries. These run through your neck, and also near your voicebox, and by pressing hard to slow down the blood flow, which by the way, could actually make you dizzy, you are going to feel a pulse. You will not want to be concerned about the rate of the pulse. This is unimportant for taking your blood pressure reading. If you can’t get a good reading. There, you might want to try one of the femoral arteries which are in your leg, but is not usually the top choice because of how far it is away from your heart. Once you have the pulse under your finger, you will want to start making the reading.

Systolic And Diastolic

When you look at a blood pressure reading, the top number, which is also going to be the one that is the Withings Wireless Blood Pressure Monitorhighest, is a measure of the pressure that is within your arteries. Every time that your heart beats. A heartbeat, as you will remember, is representative of the heart muscle contracting, pulsing the blood into your veins. The flip side of this is the diastolic, which is going to be the lower number, and this measures the pressure between heartbeats. Another way of looking at this is when the heart muscle is resting, filling backup with blood before it pumps it out again, this is what this reading represents. So as the blood is pumped out, the pressure will be increased, which is why that number is higher. During rest, where the heart is resting and filling up with blood, the pressure is normally going to decrease. It is also why a cough is placed on your arm and inflated, slowly letting the air out, allowing the doctor to listen, usually with a stethoscope, and watch the gauge. When the gauge with the needle makes a bump, that is where the first reading is, and the second bump is the diastolic. The reason the cuff is used is to place enough pressure on the brachial artery until they can no longer hear a pulse. The air is gradually let out, loosening its grip on your arm, and once you hear the pulse again, this is the systolic reading.

Taking Your Blood Pressure Without Equipment

images (1)If you are going to do this on your own without a blood pressure tool or cuff, you will have to apply pressure to the brachial artery with your opposite hand. You will then have to have someone measuring your pulse to determine when it stops, and when it starts again. This is the only way that you will be able to take your blood pressure without a cuff, leading to the same results. The reason that people use this type of devices because it is almost impossible to block that artery, and take your pulse at the same time, since you only have two hands to work with. This will require somebody that will either apply pressure to the artery while you take a reading with your finger, or vice a versa with you applying pressure and the other person taking the reading.

As you can see, it is possible to actually do this, but it will require the help of another person in order to get a proper reading. Once you have done this a couple times, you will more than likely want to invest in a blood pressure machine, or you can simply go down to your local pharmacy where they almost always have a blood pressure monitoring station that will take your blood pressure for you without having to purchase one of these sometimes expensive devices. However, if you are tight on money, and you are concerned about your blood pressure and you really don’t want to go to the doctor, it will be as simple as blocking off the artery, taking the reading, and having some peace of mind knowing that your blood pressure is not off the scale.