This post is sponsored by Omron Healthcare and all opinions are the writer’s.
If, like me, you have a family history of high blood pressure, stroke or heart conditions, you really need to monitor your blood pressure. So far, I’m the only person in my family whose blood pressure generally falls within normal limits, but I don’t take that for granted.
My mother suffered from a massive stroke when she was 28 and my father had a quadruple coronary bypass a few years ago. My sister, two years younger than me, also has high blood pressure and manages it with medication and exercise. Both my parents are alive, and they both live with conditions and symptoms they wish they didn’t have to deal with.
Nearly 800,000 strokes occur each year in the U.S. but experts say that up to 80 percent of them are preventable. Hypertension is a huge risk factor for stroke, and people who have high blood pressure are one and a half times more likely to have a stroke in their lifetime. High blood pressure also contributes to narrowed or clogged arteries, due to damage to the lining of blood vessels. The most effective way to prevent a stroke is to monitor your blood pressure and manage it if you’re hypertensive.
Because I hope to be around for my kids for a long time, I exercise daily, watch the salt in my diet and measure my blood pressure regularly. For exercise, aside from walking the dog, I practice yoga every day, along with meditation and relaxation techniques. When it comes to taking my blood pressure, I’d rather do it at home, for several reasons.
One of them is that I’ve noticed my readings are usually higher at the doctor’s office. Recently, during a check-up, the doctor had me relax for ten minutes before taking it again, as my first reading was unusually high. The second time around it was lower.But the most reliable readings over time, I have found, take place at home. Blood pressure can fluctuate throughout the day, and the reading can depend on many factors, including our levels of stress. For that reason, I like to sit quietly in my favorite spot before I measure my blood pressure with the OMRON Evolv device I’ve had for over a year now. I love OMRON products, and have had much success with their TENS device which provides drug free pain management.
Once I feel calm, I slip the cuff over my left arm, rest my feet squarely on the floor, sit with my back straight and lay my forearm on a table. Then I hit the start button and wait for the monitor to do its thing. If the reading is not within normal limits, I usually wait an hour or so and take it again. This is why doing it at home is super convenient.
Now, my sister and my father also have a blood pressure monitor at home, so they can be on top of their numbers regularly and call or visit the doctor if their numbers are unusually high.
I hope you will join me in being on top of your blood pressure numbers and taking care of your overall health! OMRON has a coupon discount for my readers so that you can get an extra 10% discount off their current sale prices using this link. This coupon code is valid through May 24th.