The Benefits Of Blood Pressure Monitors & Cuffs

Whether you have been diagnosed with hypertension or simply want to keep track of your blood pressure as part of your health routine, keeping a blood pressure monitor at your home will allow you to stay on top of your health. Remote blood pressure monitoring is made possible through smart blood pressure monitors and cuffs that can measure your blood pressure and then transmit it to your remote monitoring app.

Related: How Remote Patient Monitoring Can Save Time And Money

What are Blood Pressure Monitors and Cuffs?

Blood pressure monitors are devices that attach via cuffs to either your wrist or your arm and record your blood pressure. They generally have the same parts:

Inflatable cuff: The cuff’s inner layer is filled with air and squeezes the arm, whereas the cuff’s outer layer keeps the arm in place through the use of a fastener. The device then calculates the heart rate and blood flow by measuring the changes in the artery’s motion as the blood flows through them while the cuff deflates.

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Gauge for readouts: This can be digital or manual. It displays the readings, and some gauges can even take the average of multiple readings to give a more representative result that factors in changes in emotional states and circumstances that may acutely affect blood pressure.
Smart blood pressure monitors are equipped with either the ability to remotely connect to a smartphone and transmit all their recorded data to specific telehealth apps or with smart interfaces which the user can interact with.

Cuff position

The cuff position is important when it comes to measuring blood pressure. Typically, the most accurate position to place the cuff is the upper arm. However, if a person has very large arms, many device cuffs may not fit. Thus, they should measure their blood pressure by placing the cuff on their wrists or lower arm.

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Although these positions are alright, they have large margins of error compared to placing them on the upper arm and are not as reliable. Just to be safe, people using cuffs placed on their wrists and lower arms should tally their home readings with the ones their primary care physician can provide.

Benefits of Blood Pressure Monitors

Blood pressure monitors provide the ability to monitor your blood pressure at home. This has numerous benefits which can greatly help both patients with hypertension and individuals that just want to take care of their health.

Early diagnosis

Having a blood pressure monitor at home allows individuals to take readings frequently and at a much higher rate than coming to the medical center to get blood pressure recorded. This can build up a log of the individual blood pressure over time, and it is very useful data for your health care provider.

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Using this information, your health care provider can diagnose you with early hypertension even before it starts manifesting itself through noticeable symptoms. Early diagnosis can help individuals prevent reaching stage 2 or 3 hypertension, as it gives them a grace period to correct any bad lifestyle habits and remove any major stressors.

At-risk individuals

Home blood pressure monitoring is even more important for individuals who already suffer from other diseases which can elevate blood pressure, such as diabetes, kidney problems, or even anxiety. Frequently recording their blood pressure allows these individuals to manage their condition and allows their health care providers to spot any changes.

Tracking treatment

Regularly measuring your blood pressure and having a record of these measurements allows individuals and their health providers to evaluate whether the treatment is working. The only way to know whether your lifestyle changes or medications are providing the results you want is by checking your blood pressure regularly. This will allow you and your healthcare provider to make decisions regarding your treatment, such as changing medications or altering the dosage.

More control

Having the ability to monitor your blood pressure can give you a greater sense of control over your health. It can also allow you to step away from stressful situations, as you can be aware of your blood pressure levels. This allows individuals to be more in control of the lifestyle decisions they make, and many individuals report motivation to improve diet, physical activity, and take medication regularly due to this.

Cost-effective

It is cheaper for the patient to simply record their blood pressure at home rather than come to the hospital every time they need to have their blood pressure recorded. This can save the patient thousands of dollars over a few years. An added benefit is that people can record their blood pressures when they are not nervous at home.

Related: Why is remote patient monitoring important?

Hospitals cause many people a great deal of anxiety. This makes the blood pressure readings in the hospital somewhat problematic as people can have spikes in their blood pressure during hospital readings. Comparing readings at home with hospital ones is a good way of checking whether you truly have hypertension.

Sharing information

Through smart blood pressure monitoring devices, you can easily record multiple logs of your blood pressure data. These logs contain a vast history of readings. You can also share these logs with your health care provider allowing them to evaluate your condition remotely. If connected to a telehealth app, the software can even determine when you should go see a doctor, always keeping you ahead of your illness.

Conclusion

Remote Patient Monitoring is not the end all be all. Medical visits are still essential, as the monitors might not always be accurate, especially when connected to the wrists. It is also important to never alter treatments unless your healthcare provider recommends doing so.

That said, blood pressure monitoring devices are useful tools and should be utilized. SmartClinix provides state-of-the-art blood pressure monitoring devices that can be connected to your telehealth app to transmit data instantaneously. So, head over to SmartClinix to get the best care that healthcare can provide!