The home tracking starter kit
Your doctor asked you to check at home, and nobody told you how. This is the whole thing in one place: how to take a reading that means something, what to write down, and how to turn a month of numbers into the one figure worth bringing to your next appointment.
All of it is on this page. Nothing here is behind an email form, because none of it should be. Reviewed 30 August 2026.
How the whole thing fits together
Three things you do once, then a loop of five you repeat. Most people stop because nobody told them the second half was a loop.
Steps 1–3: once, at the start
Steps 4–8: the loop that repeats
- Choose a monitorSee the four we checked
- Measure your armCuff size chart
- Fit the cuff and sit properlyThe measurement checklist
- Take a reading you can trustHow to take and read one
- Write it downPrintable log sheet
- Work out your averageAverage calculator
- Get ready for your appointmentThe tracking starter kit
- Keep goingBlood pressure apps, honestly
The first three you do once. The last five are a loop, and the value is in going round it again: one reading tells you very little, and thirty tell you something.
Part one
Take a reading that means something
Most of what moves a home reading happens before you press the button. Sit with your back supported, feet flat on the floor, and rest the cuffed arm on a table at roughly heart height.
Back against the chair, feet flat, arm supported at about heart height, cuff on bare skin just above the elbow bend.
Before you measure
- Skip coffee, exercise and smoking for 30 minutes
- Use the bathroom first
- Sit still for 5 minutes
How to sit
- Put your back against the chair
- Both feet flat on the floor
- Rest your arm on a table
- Stay quiet while it runs
The cuff
- Put it on bare skin
- Sit it just above your elbow bend
- Pull it snug and even
- Check the size
How many readings
- Two in the morning, two at night
- Keep it up for 7 days
- Write every one down
Part two
Check the cuff actually fits
A cuff that is too small squeezes harder than it should and pushes your reading up. Measure around the middle of your bare upper arm, halfway between the tip of your shoulder and the point of your elbow.
Halfway between shoulder and elbow, tape snug against bare skin.
| Cuff size | Arm, inches | Arm, cm |
|---|---|---|
| Small adult | 6.3 to 9.4 in | 16 to 24 cm |
| Adult | 9.0 to 14.6 in | 23 to 37 cm |
| Wide range | 8.6 to 16.5 in | 22 to 42 cm |
| Large adult | 12.2 to 17.7 in | 31 to 45 cm |
| Extra large | 16.9 to 22.0 in | 43 to 56 cm |
Part three
What to write down
Six things, every time. Nothing on this list is a medical history, and you should not start collecting one. It is the reading plus enough context to explain it.
- The top number
- Systolic. The first, larger number on the display.
- The bottom number
- Diastolic. The second, smaller one.
- Your pulse
- Most monitors show it next to the two numbers. Write down whatever it shows.
- The date and time
- The time matters as much as the date, because readings move through the day.
- Which arm
- Whichever one you use, use the same one every time so the readings compare.
- Anything unusual
- A rushed morning, a missed dose, a bad night. One word is enough, and it is often the word that explains an odd reading.
PDF, free, no email needed.
Part four
Turn the pile into one number
This is the part most people skip, and it is the part that makes the rest worth doing. One reading sits anywhere in a wide scatter. The average across a set of them is the thing a doctor can use.
Each dot is one reading. The circled one is the reading people panic about. The line is what actually matters.
How much to bring. The AHA and AMA describe 2 readings at least 1 minute apart, morning and evening. That is 4 a day. 7 days gives 28 readings and is the fuller picture; 3 days gives 12 and is the minimum they describe.
American Heart Association and American Medical Association, Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring at Home: A Joint Policy Statement, Circulation. 2020;142(4):e42-e63. If your doctor asked for a different routine, do theirs.
Runs in your browser. Your readings are not sent anywhere.
Part five
Take it to the appointment
A month of readings is worth very little in your head and quite a lot on a page. The job here is to arrive with something someone can read in under a minute.
What to bring
- The readings themselves. The sheet, the app, a photo of the sheet. However you kept them, bring the actual numbers rather than a summary from memory.
- Your two averages. Average systolic and average diastolic across the set. The AHA and AMA statement describes averaging every reading you took, over 7 days if you managed it.
- How many readings, and over how long. Twelve readings across three days and twelve across three months are different things, and the sheet does not say which unless you dated it.
- Which monitor, and whether the cuff fits. The make and model, and your arm measurement if you know it. A reading taken on the wrong cuff size is wrong by more than most people expect.
- Anything unusual you noted. A missed dose, a bad week, a rushed morning. The notes column is often the part that explains the odd reading.
We are not going to tell you what your doctor wants. Practices differ, and some will have given you a specific routine already. If yours did, theirs wins over anything on this page.
The averaging routine above is from American Heart Association and American Medical Association, Self-Measured Blood Pressure Monitoring at Home: A Joint Policy Statement, Circulation. 2020;142(4):e42-e63.
What not to do
- Do not bring only your worst reading. One high number out of thirty is the thing an average exists to put in context, and leading with it skews the conversation.
- Do not leave out the readings you think look bad. A log you edited is not a log.
- Do not diagnose yourself on the way in. The category a number falls in is a lookup, not a verdict, and it is not the same as being told you have a condition.
A one-page summary sheet
Not the log. This is the cover note: how many readings, over what dates, your two averages, which monitor and cuff, and room for the questions you want to ask. Nobody wants twenty-eight rows handed across a desk.
Download the summary sheetPDF, one page, free, no email needed. It has no category table on it on purpose: a sheet that classified its own averages would be interpreting them.
Want it in your inbox instead?
You already have everything above. If it is easier to have the checklist and the routine sitting in your email where you can find it on a Tuesday morning, we will send it. We will also tell you when BP Central reaches the App Store.
We only ask for your email. We never ask for your readings, your age, your medications or any condition, and nothing about your health goes into the mailing list.
Common questions
What is in the blood pressure tracking starter kit?
The measurement checklist, a printable log sheet, a list of what to record with each reading, a cuff size reference, and how to work out your averages before an appointment. All of it is on this page, free, with no email required.
Do I have to give my email to get it?
No. Everything is on this page and the printable log downloads directly. The email option exists only so you can have it in your inbox instead of a browser tab.
How long should I track before an appointment?
The joint statement from the American Heart Association and the American Medical Association describes seven days of readings, morning and evening, two readings each time, as the fuller picture. Three days is the minimum they describe. If your doctor asked for something specific, do that instead.
What should I bring to the appointment?
The readings themselves and the average across them. A doctor can do more with a set of readings and one average than with a single number you remember, and more again if you noted the times.
Do you store my blood pressure readings?
No. This site never asks for a reading. The average calculator runs entirely in your browser and sends nothing anywhere. If you join the email list we hold your address and nothing else about your health.
BP Central keeps a record of readings you enter yourself. It does not measure your blood pressure and it is not medical advice. One reading at home does not diagnose anything. Only a doctor or other health professional can do that.
The kit gets you started. BP Central is where the readings go after that, with your averages and trends worked out as you add them.
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