“I don’t get it! Everytime I come to your office my blood
pressure is high. It’s never like that anywhere else!” “White
Coat Hypertension” is very common and affects many people, even
those who feel at ease with their physician. But whether your
blood pressure is low or high at the doctor’s office, if you’ve
been told you might have hypertension, you are likely to find
yourself at home, or in a grocery or drug store with your arm in
a cuff trying to figure out if your blood pressure is
reasonable. A key to successful self-measurement is knowing the
proper technique. The big studies of blood pressure in the
population upon which we base all our definitions of normal and
high values were careful to take their measurements in a
standardized way. The patient should avoid coffee, tea,
nicotine, and other stimulants for at least 30 minutes prior to
the test. She should sit quietly for a full 10 minutes reading
or softly conversing before measurement. Even reaching across
the table to pull the BP cuff near is to be