another thing, and i am not sure anyone even mentioned this yet, is when to take your BP reading.
you do not want to take it after exercise, or drinking caffeinated, beverages, or when you have climbed a flight of stairs.
you want to be sitting down, legs not crossed and feet flat on the floor.
you want to have been sitting down for about 3 to 5 minutes.
then you slip on the cuff, and let the BP monitor do it's job.
on average, i take my BP at about 6 PM nightly.
but in any event, as my doctor told me, you DO want to try and take your BP at or very close to the same time each day, 7 days a week.
do not ever trust those generic BP machines that are in any walgreens or CVS stores, or any other pharmacy.
i was told at the CVS that thier machine was checked MONTHLY.
and when you have dozens of people using it, no way in hell is it going to be accurate. i myself, had to sit at the machine and re-do my BP sometimes 4 TIMES to get a reading.