Instinctively, you likely know that it’s important to keep your blood pressure in check. We’ve certainly addressed the topic previously and it’s one of those essential health markers that almost all of us have experienced during a medical exam (ever feel like the cuff on the blood pressure monitor is too tight?). But what does it actually mean to have high blood pressure (also known as hypertension) and how do you know if you’re suffering from it? And why does it matter so much? Good questions that we should all know the answers to. For your first lesson, stick out your arm and read here.

Blood pressure monitoring measures the force of blood pushing against your arteries as the heart pumps blood throughout your body. Too high and it means your heart is working harder to pump blood to the rest of your body; your arteries may become less flexible, decreasing the flow of blood and oxygen to your heart and putting you at risk for heart disease, heart attack, or cardiac death, along with damage to other organs. What are the signs that you have high blood pressure? Unfortunately, there’s a reason it’s known as a “silent killer.” Oftentimes, you don’t realize you have high blood pressure until it’s already caused serious damage. As one expert made clear, “When you start having signs of hypertension (high blood pressure) that means you already had end-organ damage. So this is not a disease that can wait for signs and symptoms.”

So should you be monitoring your blood pressure at home and not just when you have the occasional doctor’s visit? Given that nearly ½ of all US adults have high blood pressure, and that the early signs are likely invisible, it may behoove you to regularly monitor your blood pressure at home, especially if you are an older adult, have a family history, are African American, or if your blood pressure was previously elevated at your physician’s office. However, a new study out in JAMA Network Open suggests that many of us are not following this advice nor are we being instructed by our doctors to monitor our blood pressure at home. According to this study, only ½ of the older adults who should be monitoring their blood pressure at home (because of a history or a condition that can cause high blood pressure) are actually doing so, and a significant number (almost 40%) said their doctors did not recommend they do so, despite their health profile. It’s clear that if you have any risk, it’s important to know your blood pressure on a regular basis rather than as a random measure at an occasional doctor’s office. To find out more, click here, and for tips about measuring your blood pressure at home, read here. And for a list of devices that have been validated for their clinical accuracy in measuring blood pressure at home, click here.

If you need a further nudge, you should be aware of ongoing research shining a light on the negative health effects of high blood pressure (which can be effectively kept in check through lifestyle changes or medications). First, a new study (in mice) recently presented at the American Heart Association meeting suggests that high blood pressure may cause your bones to age faster. These results suggest it’s all the more important to start monitoring your blood pressure as a younger person so as to lessen your risk of osteoporosis as you get older. Find out more by reading here. There is also recent data from the University of Michigan that finds an association between high blood pressure and accelerated cognitive decline. As one of the researchers stated, “Our findings suggest that high blood pressure causes faster cognitive decline, and that taking hypertension medication slows the pace of that decline.” So cut out your salt, schedule your exercise, and read more here.