Diabetes mellitus and hypertension, two seemingly unrelated diseases, often occur in one person at the same time.
When they meet, our health management needs to be more sophisticated. One of the common questions is whether, when measuring blood pressure, the left arm or the right arm should be chosen?
First, let’s get to the basic principles of blood pressure measurements. Blood pressure is the pressure on the vascular wall when the blood moves within the vein. Due to the characteristics of the anatomical structure of the body, blood pressure in the right arm is usually slightly higher than in the left arm.
This is because the oscillary artery of the right arm comes from the stem branch of the head, while the oscillary artery of the left arm comes from the lower artery of the left collarbone, which is slightly further from the aorifical source of the heart.
Thus, blood pressure measurements in the right arm tend to be more reflective of real blood pressure.
However, this does not mean that everyone should measure blood pressure on the right arm only.
For diabetic patients, the difference in blood pressure between the right and the right arms may be more pronounced due to possible vascular conditions.
Therefore, it is advisable to measure the blood pressure in both the right and the right arms at the same time, whichever is higher. This will help us to understand our blood pressure more accurately.
In addition, for the elderly, diabetics and people with low blood pressure, additional details are needed in measuring blood pressure.
For example, the emptiness of bladders should be removed before measurements; the effect of holding urine on blood pressure should be kept quiet and relaxed; stress or anxiety should not increase blood pressure; at the same time, care should be taken to measure the period of blood pressure, which is usually better measured within an hour of getting up in the morning and before sleeping at night.
For diabetes patients, it is also important to choose the right sphygmomanometer.
We should measure using an accurate upper arm electro-sphygmomanometer rather than a mercury sphygmomanometer. This is because electronic sphygmomanometers are easier to operate and the data are more accurate and reliable and are well suited for household blood pressure monitoring. When diabetes is exposed to hypertension, we need to pay more attention to the measurement and management of blood pressure. When measuring blood pressure, the right arm should be selected to measure and the blood pressure differences in the right and right arm should be observed.
At the same time, appropriate sphygmomanometers and correct measurements need to be selected to ensure the accuracy and reliability of measurements. Only in this way can we better manage our own health and be free from disease.
