Patient Instructions:

1. Measure your morning blood pressure before you take your medication. Don’t exercise, smoke, eat or drink caffeine in the 30 minutes before measurements;
2. DO sit comfortably upright with your arm supported on a table beside you, with both feet on the ground for a few minutes before starting measurements
3. Put the cuff on your upper arm (2-5 cm above your elbow) resting on the table, the cuff should be roughly at the level of your heart;
4. Press the on/start button on the BP monitor and take two readings at least 1 minute apart. If the first two readings are very different, take 2 or 3 further readings.
5. On each day, monitor your blood pressure on two occasions - in the morning (between 6 am and 12 noon) and again in the evening (between 6 pm and midnight) for 7 days using alternate arms. 
6. Use the app to record your blood pressure readings. When you have completed 7 days of readings just send a message to your clinician in the app with your average reading (please see below for how to calculate this) 
7. If you prefer to record your readings on paper, there is a hand table below which you can print out and fill in. You can also send this to your GP or take screenshots of the measurements in the app to share with them. 

How to calculate your Average Blood Pressure:

• Ignore the first day of readings (as this was when you were getting used to the monitor) and take an average of the remaining readings (minimum 5 days' worth of readings).
• Add up all the top systolic blood pressures & divide by the number of readings taken 

(ie: if you take 3 readings then you would calculate your Systolic as follows (145 + 150 + 155) / 3 = 150), then repeat with the bottom reading which is your Diastolic blood pressure.