Overview
To measure blood pressure, your doctor uses an instrument called a sphygmomanometer, which is more often referred to as a blood pressure monitor. A cuff is wrapped around your upper arm and inflated to stop the flow of blood in your artery. As the cuff is slowly deflated, your health care provider uses a stethoscope to listen to the blood pumping through the artery. These pumping sounds register on a gauge attached to the cuff. The first pumping sound your doctor hears is recorded as the systolic pressure, and the last sound is the diastolic pressure. Systolic blood pressure is the measurement of the pressure of your blood against the artery walls when your heart beats. Diastolic blood pressure is the measurement of the pressure of your blood against the artery walls when your heart rests between beats.
Review Date 7/1/2025
Updated by: Frank D. Brodkey, MD, FCCM, Associate Professor, Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.