If your blood pressure measures high it’s wise to consider a couple of things, Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Both arm position and resting for a moment before measurement are things to consider if you have a high blood pressure reading. Those are the conclusions of two studies by Tammy Brady, a cardiovascular health promotion expert at Johns Hopkins, and colleagues.

Brady: In busy settings where you have to screen large numbers of individuals, the majority of whom are going to be non hypertensive, it's reasonable to screen. If it's in the normal range then you can move on. Those who have blood pressures that are in the hypertensive range, those are the ones that you really want to focus on and really make sure that you have them rest for those 5 minutes.          :20

Brady says if your reading is high you must advocate for yourself.

Brady: I would just encourage them to just feel empowered and to not feel intimidated to say it seems like my blood pressure is higher than I was expecting, I read this thing on whatever news outlet that said arm really needs to be positioned the right way. Would you mind just checking it again with my arm the way it says it's supposed to be.  :15

At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.