Blood pressure is often a good indicator of someone's overall cardiovascular health. Having high blood pressure (hypertension) can indicate that a person has a higher risk of having a heart attack or a stroke. Sometimes a physician that a patient self-monitor his or her blood pressure, which then requires a basic understanding of how to read and interpret the results.
Step 1
Find the systolic pressure. This will generally be labeled as "Systolic" and may or may not have "mm Hg" under it (this stands for millimeters of mercury, a common unit for measuring pressure). It will usually be in the upper section of the middle of the monitor and will be the highest number on the monitor.
Step 2
Find the diastolic pressure. This will be underneath the systolic pressure and will be labeled similarly. This number will be lower than the systolic pressure.
Step 3
Understand the ranges. Normal blood pressure is generally considered between 120 and 140 mm Hg for systolic pressure and 70 and 90 for diastolic pressure. Systolic readings of 140 to 159 and diastolic readings of 90 to 94 are considered to be mildly high. Anything above that is considered to be hypertensive, which means that it is abnormally high.
Step 4
Look at many readings over time. Readings can fluctuate (by about 10 mm Hg) and some people have naturally high or naturally low blood pressure. What is more important is to look at several readings over a long period of time to identify any trends in the blood pressure readings.
Step 5
Examine the pulse rate. Most blood pressure monitors will also have the pulse rate, which will be in one of the corners (top-left typically) and will often be labeled "Pulse" or "Heart Rate" and will usually be given in bpm (beats per minute). If the monitor is giving continuous readings, your pulse rate may fluctuate by a few bpm.
