Arm Blood Pressure Monitor

Blood pressure is measured using a sphygmomanometer, or blood pressure monitor. It consists of an inflatable cuff that’s wrapped around your arm, roughly level with your heart, and a monitoring device that measures the cuff’s pressure.

The monitor measures two pressures: systolic, and diastolic. Systolic pressure is higher, occurring when your heart beats and pushes blood through the arteries, and diastolic pressure is measured when your heart is resting and filling with blood. So, for example, your blood pressure might be 120 over 80.