Beautiful young female doctor is checking the blood pressure of the patient.

Beautiful immature female medico is checking the claret pressure of the patient. (iStock)

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If you've never had a problem with your blood pressure before, it tin exist jarring to hear that your reading measured higher than the normal cutoff of 120/lxxx millimeters of mercury (mm Hg).

But you don't need to freak out but yet.

Claret pressure is the strength of your blood pushing confronting the walls of your blood vessels. If your blood pressure is consistently high, it can damage those vessels, raising your risk of conditions similar heart assault, stroke, or fifty-fifty erectile dysfunction, says the American Heart Association.

Related: 6 guys who suffered a heart set on tell you what it really feels like

But normal blood pressure that's justtemporarily higher—even up to 15 to 20 points higher up usual— is pretty much harmless, says Orlando Health Physicians Internal Medicine Grouping internist Benjamin Kaplan, M.D.

In fact, in that location are a number of innocent things that can also exist responsible for a fleeting BP spike. Hither are six to consider if your reading seems weirdly high.

i. Doctors freak you out.
If you lot get nervous the second you lot step into your doctor'southward office, your center might start pounding.

"The trunk essentially reacts in a fight-or-flying way, increasing the centre charge per unit and getting ready to make a movement," says Dr. Kaplan.

Experts call the resulting increase in blood pressure "white coat hypertension," which can crusade your reading to spike by as much equally xv points, suggests a review published inHypertension.

Taking deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth can help you lot calm down, which volition dull your eye rate and bring your blood pressure level dorsum down to normal, says Dr. Kaplan.

Related: How to de-stress in under two minutes

Waiting until the end of your date to accept your BP measured might assistance, also. "By and then, you'll hopefully have all of your questions answered, and you'll be less anxious," he says.

2. You rushed to your appointment.
It's happened to all of us: The simply available parking spot is a block abroad—and you take v minutes to go far to your doc'due south part on the building's 3rd flooring. That's bad news for your blood pressure, and not only considering of the effect of the mental stress of being late.

When you walk fast or run, your heart rate increases every bit information technology pumps more blood to power your muscles. More than blood pumping through your vascular system ways more than pressure on the walls of your claret vessels.

That causes your claret force per unit area to temporarily ascension, says Dr. Kaplan.

Related: 3 ways to stop procrastinating

If your dr. takes your blood pressure level earlier your heart rate has had a chance to return to normal—which tin can have up to 30 minutes, depending on how fast your heart was beating—the reading will probably be higher than you lot expect.

So instead of having your BP checked at the beginning of your engagement, ask your doctor if he can expect until the finish.

"By and then, your trunk's physiology volition have come back to a normal resting state," Dr. Kaplan says. And your BP reading will be more authentic.

3. You take to pee desperately.
When your float is full, your trunk signals the release of stress hormones similar adrenaline, which activate your fight-or-flying response. That causes your claret vessels to tuck, which tin enhance your blood pressure by equally much as xv points, says New Providence, New Jersey cardiologist Steve Sheris, M.D.

Every bit y'all might've guessed, the set up is pretty easy.

If you get to the md's office and you have to pee, don't hold information technology in. Go, and then let the medico take your BP, Dr. Sheris says. Your BP should go back to normal in three or four minutes.

Related: How to stop getting up at night to pee

4. You drank java or an energy drink.
The culprit here is the caffeine, though experts aren't sure exactly how it sends your blood pressure level skyrocketing.

2 possibilities? It might signal to your body to produce more than adrenaline, which speeds up your eye charge per unit. Information technology could also crusade your blood vessels to constrict, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Caffeine seems to impact blood pressure more in people who generally don't drink coffee than those who are already used to the stuff, says Dr. Kaplan.

Related: Why coffee makes you lot poop

Regular coffee drinkers could have a spike of upward to 5 mm Hg. And if you don't normally beverage it, your BP could leap by as much as 15 mm Hg.

So if you don't ordinarily guzzle double espressos, the mean solar day of your almanac physical isn't the time to start. But even if you potable java or energy drinks daily, don't walk into your appointment with the stuff in hand.

Most experts agree that patients should steer clear of caffeine for at least xxx minutes before having their BP taken, Dr. Kaplan says.

5. You sat with your legs crossed.
Sitting with your legs crossed compresses the veins in your legs, which can cause blood to pool up down at that place.

To compensate and make sure plenty blood makes information technology to other of import parts of your body—like your chest—your heart starts pumping more than blood, says Dr. Sheris. And that sends your blood pressure upwardly, sometimes by every bit much as 8 mm Hg.

For the most accurate BP reading, y'all should sit in a comfortable, upright position.

Your feet should exist apartment on the flooring and your elbows should rest on the armrest of the chair, Dr. Sheris says. The position is standard protocol, so if you aren't sitting correct, your doctor should let y'all know. (If y'all're at a self-serve BP reading place like a pharmacy, and yous're not sure that yous're sitting correctly, inquire the pharmacist for assistance.)

half-dozen. The exam room is freezing.
When it's dank, the blood vessels near the surface of your peel constrict to send more blood towards your cadre. This helps keep you lot your vital organs warm, but it can as well drive upwards your BP by as much every bit 20 mm Hg, says Dr. Sheris.

When your blood vessels are narrower, the blood flowing through them exerts more pressure level.

Since you can't exactly crank the heat in the doctor's building—or keep your coat on when he's taking your BP—the best you tin do is brand certain yous're not too common cold beforehand. If the room seems weirdly chilly, you could leave your coat on until right earlier the reading.

Just if you're always freezing no matter what, mention it to your dr.—she might recommend that you try taking your BP at home.

And so should you lot worry about i high claret pressure reading?
If you get i foreign reading, don't worry as well much.

Your doctor should take at least 2 BP readings, at least ane infinitesimal apart, and average the 2 readings, recommends the American Heart Association. Merely if your BP seems college than usual, and one of the above factors was in play, mention it to your md. He can make up one's mind if you should look longer before taking the 2nd reading.

"It'southward the average of many BP readings that matters," says Dr. Kaplan. "Yous need to have elevated readings on multiple days to take the official diagnosis of hypertension."

If the number continues to measure over 140/ninety (which is the cutoff for high blood pressure), you and your dr. can talk about lifestyle changes that can assist bring them downwards—similar exercising, eating right, cutting back on salt and alcohol, and quitting smoking—besides equally any possible meds like acetaminophen, antidepressants, NSAIDs, or corticosteroids.

First published on MensHealth.com