Introduction
There are some things in life that should be made compulsory for every person to learn. For example: cardio pulmonary resuscitation, or CPR for short. Who knows, maybe someday you are having brunch at a restaurant and you see someone dying on the floor and that is when you realize that a short course in CPR is the only thing that could have helped you save that man; thus, there is an extreme need for everyone to know of these simple, easy, and extremely vital procedures of how to monitor pressure.
Step 1
Another such formula that is mandatory for everyone to know is that of knowing how to monitor pressure of the blood in the body. While the knowledge of knowing how to monitor pressure is not as vital as that of CPR, it is still an important one; sometimes an ignored high blood pressure can lead to a mild case of death.
Step 2
In order to understand why one must know how to monitor pressure of the blood, one must first be made to understand what blood pressure really is. Blood pressure is a measure of the force applied by the blood onto the walls of the arteries. Blood pressure is recorded as two integers: systolic and diastolic. The very first measurement of human blood pressure was made by Carl Ludwig in 1847. It made it possible for people to monitor pressure at home even.
Step 3
The technique he used was, however, quite invasive and is now pretty much obsolete. Since invasive techniques are a risk to the patient’s health, there are now noninvasive techniques available to carry out the same measurement without having to stick something inside the patient. This has reduced a great number of infections that were otherwise increasingly common due to such invasive procedures.
Step 4
The first measurement of human blood pressure through a noninvasive technique was made by Samuel Karl Ritter in 1881. Since then, the entire procedure to monitor pressure has become extremely easy and can be performed right at home.
Step 5
The normal blood pressure for a healthy person is known to be close to 120 over 80 (systolic over diastolic). As for knowing how to monitor pressure, there are two methods: the analog method, and the digital method. The analog method requires the use of a simple analog device called the sphygmomanometer and a stethoscope. The sphygmomanometer is connected to an inflatable cuff that hinders the flow of blood through the arm, and the stethoscope is placed right underneath the cuff to hear exactly when the blood flow is resumed, and when the flow is unconstrained. The digital method makes use of a digital sphygmomanometer that does not require a stethoscope. It is simply wrapped around the arm and displays the blood pressure by itself.
Tips
Clearly, it is not that difficult to learn how to monitor pressure and sometimes knowing how to do so can even save someone’s life. The only difficult part of this entire procedure is dealing with the force that the stethoscope exerts on the ears. Yes, it can be quite excruciating sometimes, especially with cheaper stethoscopes that are extremely tight on the ears. Other than that there is no reason why you should not learn the use of a simple device and why you should not keep yourself prepared for a possible emergency where to monitor pressure of blood in the body is essentially required.
