What is best blood pressure monitor to use at home?

Q I recently had my blood pressure checked by the practice nurse, and even though she was lovely, I was aware I was very anxious about it, and as I expected, the readings were high. She has advised me to buy a monitor so I can check it at home, but there seem to be several different ones available, including some that you wear all the time. What would you recommend?

- Dr Rosemary Leonard

A One of the problems with measuring blood pressure is just thinking about it can cause anxiety, which in turn increases the heart rate, and leads to a rise in blood pressure.

This is well known to happen in medical settings and is known as “white coat hypertension”. One way that doctors can check for this is to arrange for you to wear a special monitor which checks your blood pressure at frequent intervals over a period of 24 hours.

However, there are often waits of several weeks to have this done, so an alternative is to measure your blood pressure with your own monitor at home - and this can also be useful if you need treatment, as you can check the effectiveness of the medication.

Checking your own blood pressure at home can also cause anxiety, especially if you are worried the readings will be high, but the more you get used to doing it, the more the readings will genuinely reflect your actual blood pressure.

Generally machines that use a cuff around the arm are more accurate than those that wrap around the wrist, and can be bought from around £20, but it is best to check that the model you buy has been checked for accuracy (it should say so on the box).

It is possible to buy small devices that you wear continually on your wrist, that link to an app, but these are far more expensive (around £200).

Measuring your blood pressure all the time is rarely necessary, and can make some people even more worried about it - I've had patients who have become quite obsessive and are constantly looking at the app.