Using your Blood Pressure Monitor

At Thrive Health we take prevention seriously. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 100 million people in the United States have high blood pressure, but do not know it. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms, but it can lead to serious health effects and often known as a silent killer. It is important to know what your blood pressure is and how to keep it in a healthy range.

The at home blood pressure monitor is a tool to keep track of your heart health. This snapshot report of your cardiovascular health can support a change in medications, lifestyle and help you keep track rather than just a once-a-year assessment at your physician's office.

Even if you don’t have hypertension, by age 55 to 65, your lifetime risk for developing hypertension goes up to 90 percent. It’s important that you maintain an optimal level of below 120/80 through engaging in physical activity, monitoring your sodium intake, and maintaining a healthy weight.

There are several ways to keep your blood pressure low in your day-to-day life. Please consult your Thrive Physician before making any drastic changes to your lifestyle. Here are some modifiable factors that can contribute to high blood pressure:

- Smoking
- Being Overweight or Obese
- High Sodium Intake
- Low Potassium Intake
- Sedentary Lifestyle
- High Alcohol Consumption
- Stress
- High Cholesterol
- Diabetes
- Poor Sleep Quality

Work with your Thrive Physician and Advisor to support you in these lifestyle changes.

Aerobic activities, such as walking, swimming, cycling, Nordic walking, running, etc., are recommended to support your reduction of hypertension. It needs to be performed nonstop for at least 20–30 minutes daily and at least 3 days per week.

If you are just starting, you can break your sessions up into 15 minutes twice a day or three 10-minute sessions. You can collaborate with your Thrive Advisor to develop a customized exercise plan. This plan will consider your age, current exercise level, any pre-existing illnesses that contraindicate certain exercises and your overall state of health.

Primary (essential) hypertension cannot be cured. It is a lifelong condition that can be controlled by following a healthy lifestyle and taking the prescribed medicine. Only high blood pressure due to another medical condition (secondary hypertension) can be cured, but not always, if the underlying disease is resolved.

Heart rate, also known as pulse rate, is the number of times your heart beats per minute. Your resting heart rate is your heart rate when at rest, such as lying down, sitting, or relaxing. The unit measuring your heart rate is beats per minute (BPM).

Measuring your blood pressure at home is essential for managing hypertension, detecting changes early, and personalizing your treatment plan. It provides a more accurate and comprehensive view of your blood pressure over time, free from the temporary spikes often seen in medical settings (the "white coat" effect).

Home monitoring enhances convenience, encourages engagement in your health, and can lead to better long-term blood pressure control.

If you are using an Omron blood pressure monitor, follow the instructions for exporting your blood pressure data from the video above starting at 3:36. For other devices, you can export your data as a CSV file, or keep a log of your readings each day in a spreadsheet.

After 2 weeks of measuring your blood pressure, upload your data as a CSV file in your Thrive Health app.

Follow these steps to upload your data:

- Open the Thrive Health app on your phone, or sign in from your computer.
- Navigate to your Profile page by clicking your initials in the upper right.
- Click the Health Data tile.
- Hit the Upload Health Data button.
- Select your CSV file of blood pressure data, and submit.

You should see the file appear in your list of Health Data files.

Systolic blood pressure (the first number) – indicates how much pressure your blood is exerting against your artery walls when the heart contracts. Systolic pressure steadily rises with age due to increasing stiffness of large arteries, the long-term buildup of plaque and increased incidence of cardiac and vascular disease.

Diastolic blood pressure (the second number) – indicates how much pressure your blood is exerting against your artery walls while the heart muscle is resting between contractions.

If left unchecked, having high blood pressure puts extra strain on your blood vessels of the heart and arteries and over time. This can cause thickening of the heart muscle and heart failure; it could also lead to many health complications such as:

- Heart Disease
- Stroke
- Kidney Disease
- Vision Loss
- Sexual Dysfunction

We recommended managing your blood pressure through addressing modifiable behaviors such as increasing your physical activity, reducing sodium intake, losing weight but also understand the need for pharmacological options to aid in this reduction based on your cardiovascular score. Consult your Thrive Physician to discuss your options.

Blood pressure may increase when you are nervous, or during periods of stress due to problems at work, bereavements, separation, etc., but it is only temporary. Stress can trigger or contribute to the onset of hypertension, but it does not cause or aggravate it. We ask you to do two readings in the morning and two in the evening to enhance the accuracy of your readings and minimize the impact of short-term stressors.

The increase in blood pressure that occurs after the menopause is due to a lack of estrogen, although other factors also play a part, such as weight gain, an unhealthy diet, a sedentary lifestyle, etc.

A normal resting heart rate for adults can range from 60 to 100 beats per minute according to the American Heart Association. This means your heart is fitter and working efficiently. Many factors can influence your heart rate, from age and activity, to taking medications or being a smoker.

If this number is above 100 BPM or below 60 BPM when you’re not an athlete, this is important to consult with your clinician.

Here are some tips for accurate blood pressure readings:

- Always take your blood pressure at the same time each day, we recommend morning and evening.
- Take at least two readings, 1 or 2 minutes apart.
- Don't eat or drink anything 30 minutes before.
- Empty your bladder before conducting your BP reading.
- Sit comfortably in a chair with both feet on the ground.
- Rest your arm with the cuff on the table at chest height.
- Make sure your cuff is snug.

Refer to the video above for more info about taking your blood pressure with an Omron blood pressure monitor.

While we have a preference for the Omron blood pressure monitor, you are free to use your own cuff if you already have one.

Ideally, you you would be able to export your data to a CSV file and upload to the Thrive Health app. But if that is not possible, you can manually record your readings in a spreadsheet and upload that as a CSV file.