01What you need
- An approved home blood pressure monitor with the right cuff size (or use a pharmacy machine)$40–$70
- A chair with a back and a tableHave
- A notebook, printed log or phone noteHave
- A penHave
- A clock or phone timer for the 5-minute restHave
Where: A quiet table and a chair with a back, at about the same time each day. A pharmacy blood pressure machine works if you don't own a cuff.
Read this first
- Call 911 right away for chest pain or discomfort, shortness of breath, or sudden numbness or weakness on one side, trouble speaking or seeing, or a severe headache with no known cause.
- Readings above 180/120 are dangerously high. NHLBI says they need immediate medical attention. Contact your provider right away.
- Your cuff doesn't diagnose you. NHLBI says a diagnosis takes two or more readings at separate medical appointments. Bring the log, and ask before changing any medicine.
- Feeling fine isn't a number. High blood pressure usually has no warning signs. Measuring is the only way to know.
02Steps
Get a cuff that fits
YouUse an approved home blood pressure device so the readings are right, and check the cuff size. NHLBI says a cuff that's too small or too big can change your numbers. Or skip buying one and use the blood pressure machine at a pharmacy. Ask your doctor or pharmacist which device to buy.
Set up 30 minutes ahead
YouPick a time you can repeat every day, like before breakfast. For 30 minutes before, don't eat, drink coffee or alcohol, smoke or exercise. Use the bathroom right before. Each of those can push the number up.
Sit right and rest five minutes
YouSit in a chair with your back supported, both feet flat on the floor, legs uncrossed. Rest your arm on the table at chest height, about level with your heart. Cuff on bare skin, snug but not tight. Sit quietly for five minutes.
Take two readings
YouDon't talk while it measures. Take one reading, wait one or two minutes, and take a second. Don't retake it until you get a number you like. Both readings count.
Write both down
YouIn the log, write the date, the time, and both readings, top and bottom number. Add a note if anything was off: “Bad night's sleep,” “Rushed.” Write them all down, high or low.
Repeat at the same time daily
YouMeasure at the same time every day. Ask your health care team how often they want you to check, and stick to that.
Take the log to your doctor
YouBring the whole log to your next appointment, or send a photo of it through the patient portal. Say, “These are my home readings. What do you make of them, and how often should I check?”
03If it stalls
- If the first reading looks high, don't panic and don't skip the second one. Rest, take it, and write both down.
- If you keep forgetting, set a daily phone alarm and leave the cuff and log on the table where you'll see them.
- If the cuff squeezes painfully or won't close properly, it may be the wrong size. Ask your pharmacist about a different cuff.
- If your kids want to help, let them be the timekeeper for the 5-minute rest and the one who writes the numbers down.
04Variations
No cuff at home
Use a pharmacy blood pressure machine on the same day each week, at about the same time. Follow the same sitting rules and write the numbers in the same log.
With your partner
Share the cuff and keep two columns in the log, one for each of you. Remind each other about the 30-minute no-coffee rule.
Already on blood pressure medicine
Ask your doctor how often to measure and when in the day, and write the time you took your medicine next to each reading.
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05Sources
- Taking an accurate reading. CDC says high blood pressure usually has no warning signs and measuring is the only way to know, lists home monitors, pharmacy machines and the doctor's office as places to measure, and says to avoid eating, drinking, smoking, alcohol, caffeine and exercise for 30 minutes, empty your bladder, sit with your back supported and feet flat, rest your arm on a table at chest height with the cuff on bare skin, rest 5 minutes, not talk, take at least two readings 1 or 2 minutes apart at the same time each day, use a log, and ask your health care team how often to measure. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Checked Oct 15, 2026
- Approved devices, cuff size and very high readings. NHLBI says to use an approved home blood pressure device, that readings can differ if the cuff is too small or too big, to rest your arm supported at the level of your heart, that diagnosis requires two or more readings at separate medical appointments, and that readings above 180/120 mm Hg are dangerously high and require immediate medical attention. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health Checked Oct 15, 2026
- Heart attack: call 911. CDC lists chest pain or discomfort, feeling weak, light-headed or faint, pain in the jaw, neck, back, arms or shoulders, and shortness of breath as major heart attack symptoms, and says to call 911 immediately if you notice them in yourself or someone else. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Checked Oct 15, 2026
- Stroke: call 911. CDC lists sudden numbness or weakness in the face, arm or leg, especially on one side, sudden confusion or trouble speaking, sudden trouble seeing or walking, and sudden severe headache with no known cause as stroke signs, and says to call 911 right away. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Checked Oct 15, 2026
Filed under: Dad Health
