When is the best time of day to take my blood pressure?

Great question. I tell my patients (I am a RN) that if they take blood pressure medication to take their BP one to two hours afterwards (because this is what many MD’s suggest). But as Margaret stated taking your BP at the same time and circumstances is key. Ask you doctor what they suggest.

It probably doesn't matter, as long as you pick the same time and similar circumstances each time. Before you get up in the morning, your BP will probably be lower than usual. If you have been exercising or are very stressed, it will be higher than if you have been sitting reading a book. Checking regularly can help you to find out what pushes it up for you, so that you can try to avoid it, but it is a waste of time getting too obsessive about it. Mine goes up and down all the time. It's considerably higher than ideal, but the statins brought it down from over 200 tops to around 140 tops most of the time. The clinic lent me an automatic machine that tested it every hour for 24 hours (and woke me up each time during the night). Knowing the variation stopped me worrying too much.