Blood pressure is the amount of pressure or the force of your blood on the walls of your arteries (blood vessels) as your heart pumps it around your body. Your blood pressure will go up and down naturally during the day depending on what you are doing. For example, it will go up if you are doing exercise and down when you are resting.
High blood pressure is when your blood pressure is persistently higher than normal, and is an important risk factor for heart disease. It’s important to know your blood pressure and to have it measured regularly. Your doctor will discuss what your ideal blood pressure should be.
Sometimes, a doctor may want to monitor a person’s blood pressure for a whole day. This can give more information about how your blood pressure changes over the day, compared with a single blood pressure check during an appointment.
24-hour blood pressure monitoring (also known as ambulatory monitoring) involves measuring your blood pressure and heart rate for 24 hours. You wear a blood pressure cuff on the upper arm which is connected to a blood pressure monitoring device. This device is easy to wear, lightweight and causes little to no discomfort.
Your blood pressure is taken at regular intervals during the day and night, while you go about your normal daily activities, including sleep.
When your blood pressure is being measured, the unit will pump air into the arm cuff, which will slowly inflate, getting tighter around your arm. You may feel some numbness or tingling as the cuff gets tighter. The cuff will then slowly deflate, reducing tightness.
When you feel the cuff getting tighter, it’s important to stop moving and rest until the measurement is complete. Usually, each reading takes 30–40 seconds.
Your doctor might ask you to keep a diary over the 24 hours while your blood pressure is being monitored. This is so you can note down things like when you wake up and go to sleep, when you take any medicines, any activities you do, or any symptoms you might experience.
You will need to return to the hospital or clinic at the same time the next day (24 hours later) to have the cuff and monitor taken off. The device will then be connected to a computer to prepare a report of your blood pressure and heart rate in the last 24 hours.
Your doctor might recommend 24-hour blood pressure monitoring to understand:
Your doctor will use the findings from the monitoring to decide on the next best steps, including if you need further tests.
Last updated14 June 2024