Blood pressure variations during the day
August 27, 2008 by Andy
In this first of many blood pressure experiments, I used a home blood pressure monitor (upper arm cuff), to measure my blood pressure during my waking day.
The readings were not taken at specific intervals, and I have made no attempt to show on this graph when I ate food, did exercise, drank coffee, or anything else that might affect blood pressure. The whole point of this experiment was just to see how my blood pressure varied throughout the day.
Here are my results:
| Time |
Upper (systolic)
|
Lower (diastolic)
|
| 08:12 |
131
|
88
|
| 09:44 |
139
|
89
|
| 11:36 |
139
|
85
|
| 13:45 |
135
|
86
|
| 15:02 |
130
|
84
|
| 16:37 |
138
|
87
|
| 17:34 |
127
|
78
|
| 18:09 |
119
|
76
|
| 19:28 |
135
|
82
|
| 20:45 |
122
|
78
|
| 21:50 |
115
|
72
|
| 22:46 |
122
|
75
|
Average Blood pressure over the day: 129/82
Here is the chart of this data:
The fluctuations were not as big as I anticipated, but one thing I have noticed is that my blood pressure does tend to reduce as the evening progresses.
We have to be careful to draw any conclusions from this blood pressure data, but clearly, there is some variation during the day.
I will be looking at specific influences in other experiments, and how they affect my blood pressure, so look out for those. They will be listed down the left of this page.
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Andy, thank you for providing your readings over the course of a day – I sometimes have these drastic spikes in blood pressure (which I feel immediately), for no apparent reason. I have tried to time them to different times of the day, activity, food, etc, but can find no link. I wonder if you physically noticed the lower reading at 18:09 before you actually took the reading. Also, you said you were surprised the fluctuations were not as big as you anticipated, and I wonder, too, if that is because you sometimes feel that your blood pressure is much higher than “normal”.
I’d appreciate your comments, and look forward to seeing further experiments from you.
Hi Diane
I actually don’t feel a thing, and cannot tell whether my blood pressure is high or low. Sometimes I feel a little weak and think it must be low blood pressure, but when I take my b.p. it’s normal.
I haven’t looked yet at food, but I did look at activity and caffeine/non-caffeine coffee.
You can see all of my current experiments here:
http://www.onetwentyovereighty.com/blood-pressure/blood-pressure-experiments/
Note: Since the early experiments, my bp has come down to normal (in fact it is usually around 110/70 now) thanks to a healthier diet, and losing a lot of weight through exercise.