Best Blood Pressure Monitors for Seniors

The heart is the hardest working muscle in the body. In fact, it pumps almost 2,500 gallons of blood per day around your body. Before you die, your heart will have beaten around three billion times.

You can take this pressure off of your heart. How? Well, by controlling your blood pressure. One way to control your blood pressure is with the best blood pressure monitor. Why should you buy the best blood pressure monitor? There are many reasons, so let us explain.

Blood Pressure Monitoring and Seniors

As you age, most of the muscles in your body become weaker and weaker each day. In fact, after middle age, you'll lose about three percent of your muscle mass each year.

Also, your arteries become stiffer and stiffer as you age as well. There is controversy whether this increases blood pressure or whether the increase in blood pressure increases the stiffness. However, in either case, it's another reason you should monitor your blood pressure as you age.

Accurately Monitoring Your Blood Pressure

You should monitor your blood pressure in two ways: at home and at the doctor's office. You should do both of these, not just one.

Studies have found that at-home blood pressure monitor readings can be inaccurate for around 5%-15% of people. So while it's important to monitor your blood pressure regularly at home, you also need to get your blood pressure tested at the doctor's office by a trained professional as well.

Types of Home Blood Pressure Monitors

Home monitors come in two main styles, and choosing the right one matters for accuracy and ease of use.

Upper Arm Monitors

Upper arm cuff monitors are the gold standard for home blood pressure measurement. The cuff wraps around your upper arm at heart level, and the device inflates it automatically. Most physicians recommend upper arm monitors because they deliver the most consistent, accurate readings. The large display on many models makes it easy to read the numbers at a glance — an important feature if your eyesight isn't what it used to be.

Wrist Monitors

Wrist monitors are smaller, lighter, and easier to put on with one hand. They are a reasonable option for people who find upper arm cuffs uncomfortable, or for those with very large or very small arms that don't fit standard cuffs. The trade-off is positioning: your wrist must be held at exactly heart level during the reading, or the numbers will be off. For this reason, the American Heart Association recommends upper arm monitors as the first choice.

Finding the Best Blood Pressure Monitor

In order to monitor your blood pressure you have to find a quality blood pressure monitor. Quality, in this case, means most accurate. If you do not have an accurate blood pressure monitor, your health may suffer. The readings will be up some days, down some others and it will be hard to know whether or not you are truly managing your blood pressure.

One of the main reasons to get a blood pressure monitor is to put you in control. If you do not know your blood pressure, how will you control it? And if the readings aren't accurate, how will you control it?

Why Should Seniors Monitor Blood Pressure?

Self-monitoring also has another huge benefit — early diagnosis. You might be wondering if you don't already suffer from high blood pressure, should you be monitoring your blood pressure? The answer is a definitive "yes."

You never know when your blood pressure could spike. High blood pressure can also be a tip off to other problems such as kidney problems or diabetes. By monitoring your blood pressure you can start to correct these problems early, before they get out of control.

And perhaps the main reason to get a blood pressure monitor is the fact that high blood pressure usually has no major symptoms. In fact, blood pressure problems, in some cases, can be completely silent. Sometimes the only way to tell if you have it is to measure it.

As Ben Franklin says, "Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today." Start monitoring your blood pressure today.