blood pressure monitors?

Either will do, and both (as well as all others!) are relatively speaking, a total waste of both your time and money because the results you'll get won't actually tell you a thing.

Why? Well, mainly because the readings they give AREN'T your "blood pressure", despite the touching (if naive!) belief of the medical profession that they are. ...... So, you'll struggle to get any two readings which agree with each other (because they change all the time, every minute of every hour) and in the end get tired and bored with trying to make sense of them, and give up.

However, ...here's are some words of encouragement, if you decide to persevere.

(1) always use the same place to take your readings (same arm, same spot)

(2) take your readings at the same time each day. Late morning is ideal,. about half an hour before lunch.

(3) by all means take more readings at different places and different times, -just out of interest and simply as a record, if you wish, but use your single 'reference' place and time as your own personal 'profile' record, and note the changes in behaviour of your readings, over time.

(4) Be aware that the actual values (numbers) you read are meaningless, but CHANGES are important. So, if you get a reading of 140/80, the '140' and '180' don't signify anything.

BUT if suddenly the '140' goes up to '160' and stays there over a significant period (days, not minutes or hours) and you can be satisfied it is an observable step-change, or your '80' suddenly drops to '54', for instance, then that IS important, and it IS a symptom that something has changed. It may be for better, or worse, and you must check with your doctor then, to find out. I'm a Cardiovascular Physicist and not a doctor, and I can't tell you.

Finally, (and this is the most important thing I can tell you !), I must warn you about all the numpties, nurses, nurses' assistants, trolley-pushers, and even some doctors (who should know better, but don't) who will assert with grave authority that "Your blood pressure is TOO HIGH" or "TOO LOW", .. "not normal" or "I'd say you you should take beta-blockers!".... They're all cr*p... Ignore them and their strictures.

Quite simply, they're all hopelessly wrong. They simply do not understand the processes, and simply are parroting what they've picked up in lectures or booklets.

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The most accurate instruments use a column of mercury for measuring the pressure. Other systems are more approximate, but blood pressure is not a micro measure; it is an indicator that varies considerably from time to time depending on all kinds of factors. Get a device that you can use and afford most easily.