Lumielle

What does my blood pressure mean?

Got a blood pressure reading? We'll explain what it means and what you can do next.

Your blood pressure reading

For adults aged 18 and over.

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Are you aged 18 or over?
Are you pregnant, or have you had a baby in the last 6 months?
Where was your blood pressure taken?
Not sure?

Choose the first option if you measured it yourself at home. Choose the second if a healthcare professional took it, including at home. Who owns the monitor does not decide this.

The way your reading was taken matters because the advice can differ. If neither option fits or you are unsure, ask the person or service that helped you take it. We cannot explain the reading until you know which option applies. You can still read the measurement guide and get urgent help.

Also called systolic

Also called diastolic

Which number is which?

The top number is the pressure when your heart pumps. The bottom number is the pressure when your heart relaxes between beats. They may be labelled SYS and DIA on your monitor. mmHg is the unit used to measure blood pressure.

Use a reading from a blood pressure cuff monitor. This tool does not interpret cuffless watch or wearable estimates.

Already have blood pressure advice?

You can use this guide if you already have high blood pressure. Your personal target, treatment plan and professional advice come first.

Has a doctor told you that you have high blood pressure?
Has a healthcare professional given you a blood pressure target or a plan to follow?

This guide does not check your treatment or tell you to change your medicine.

The healthcare advice in this tool is based on NHS guidance for England.

Your reading and answers stay on this page. They are not sent or saved.

When to get urgent help

You do not need a blood pressure reading to get help. A normal reading does not rule out serious illness.

Call 999 for emergency symptoms

The NHS advises immediate help for these examples:

  • Sudden chest pain or discomfort that does not go away; pain spreading to an arm, neck, jaw, stomach or back; or chest pain with sweating, feeling sick, lightheadedness or breathlessness.
  • Signs of a stroke: a drooping face, weakness in an arm or difficulty speaking. Call even if signs in the last 24 hours have stopped.
  • Severe difficulty breathing, such as gasping, choking or being unable to speak.
  • Sudden confusion.

These are examples, not a complete list. Do not drive yourself to A&E.

Call 999

For headaches or blurred vision that keep happening, chest pain that comes and goes, or other symptoms you are worried could be caused by blood pressure, get help from NHS 111. The emergency symptoms above need 999.

Call NHS 111. For a very high reading, use the telephone service, not NHS 111 online.

Seriously unwell or worried about an infection? Read the NHS sepsis advice. Do not delay emergency help to read another page or take a measurement.

After a collapse, call 999 if the person is not breathing, cannot be woken within a minute, has not fully recovered, has trouble speaking or moving, has chest pain or an abnormal-feeling heartbeat, has a serious injury or seizure-like movements, or fainted during exercise or while lying down. Do not wait a minute when another emergency sign is present. NHS fainting advice.

Read the NHS advice about blood pressure symptoms and chest pain, stroke symptoms, breathing difficulty and sudden confusion.

About low readings and symptoms

Some people naturally have lower blood pressure and feel well. Symptoms and whether a reading is much lower than usual matter. If you keep feeling dizzy or faint, or other symptoms persist, arrange a GP appointment. This tool does not diagnose hypotension.

NHS low blood pressure information · When to get urgent help

How to check your blood pressure at home

A few small things can make your reading more accurate.

These steps are for routine measurement. Do not delay urgent healthcare action to repeat a reading or finish a timer.

1. Settle in

Relax quietly for 5 minutes.
Back supported. Feet flat. Legs uncrossed.

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2. Set up your monitor

Use a validated upper-arm monitor and a cuff that fits. Follow its instructions.

  • Cuff on your bare upper arm.
  • Arm resting on a firm surface; cuff around heart level.
  • Hand and arm relaxed.
Need help with your monitor?

If you need help with the cuff or sitting position, ask your GP practice or pharmacist. If you have an irregular heartbeat, ask your healthcare professional how your blood pressure should be measured.

3. Take two readings

  1. Take Reading 1. Do not talk during measurement.
  2. Stay seated and relaxed. Wait at least 1 minute.
  3. Take Reading 2, without talking.

Optional timer unavailable until the page finishes loading. You can follow the steps without it.

Measuring regularly?

If you have been asked to monitor at home, follow the plan you have been given. The usual routine is morning and evening.

Rather watch someone do it? Watch the British Heart Foundation home blood pressure video — opens YouTube.

Small changes can add up

You don't have to overhaul your life to make a difference.

What you do regularly can affect your blood pressure and health over time.

About this information and your privacy

This is educational information, not a diagnosis, a medical safety assessment or personalised treatment advice. Your reading and answers are processed only on this page, without an account or stored diary. They are not sent to Lumielle, the NHS or other services. Leaving or reloading the page clears them.

The high and very-high healthcare actions follow the NHS blood pressure checker guidance reviewed for our baseline on 11 September 2026. The low/context and normal display ranges are Lumielle's GP-approved policy; they do not reproduce the NHS checker's lower classifier.

Measurement education draws on the NHS blood pressure test guide and British & Irish Hypertension Society measurement instructions. One reading uses the NHS single-reading action pathway; a structured home average is a different assessment and is not calculated here.

Ordinary requests to load this website are separate from your readings. See our privacy notice for hosting and contact information.