Omron RS2 Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor

As a young man, I used to run 2 half marathons every week: one on Monday, and the other on Thursday. Every now and again, I'd bring the two runs closer slowly until I would run a full marathon mid week. There were the weekend party binges and raving all night (this was 1990 Manchester so I'll leave you to work out what was keeping me going all night...), but apart from that, I lived a healthy life.

So, on reaching my mid forties without a beer belly or diabetes, never smoking, having made only two visits to the hospital in my life, and getting to my forties without any kids (but in a stable and happy 17 year relationship), I assumed that although I hadn't really exercised much in the last few years, I hadn't done anything bad for health/stress so must be relatively ok for fitness.

Bad move...

On an unrelated visit to the doctors last year, it turned out I had a blood pressure of 210 over 185. That's a death warrant if untreated quickly and was a shock for a number of reasons, more so because I always assumed high blood pressure was something that you would feel or know you had (because you could feel your heart pounding or were stressed or something).

But no, you will not detect it at all.

I was put on tablets (which I have to take for the rest of my life now), and because blood pressure is not something you can readily feel yourself, I needed something to keep an accurate eye on my pressure. I originally started with an upper arm monitor, but on seeing this wrist version which stops you having to roll up your sleeve right up or taking your top off (not a big deal for most people, but it is if like me you want to check every other day!) I had to have it, and I'm very pleased with it.

Best thing about it is that it packs into a small box, exactly three inches square, that fits easily in my car glove compartment or work bag. The fact that it fits on the wrist means I can use it in the car/train/wherever with minimum fuss and without standing out, which makes me much more likely to use it regularly.

Today I am at an ideal blood pressure, and I check often with this monitor. It's a life saver in more ways than one: saves time over an upper arm monitor, and is also a life saver in a literal sense.

Others around me have not been as lucky. Three weeks ago, the minibus driver for my mum's pensioners club tripped after complaining of feeling cold for a few hours before. He never got back up. This was caused by high blood pressure. He was in his early 40s with a young family.
6 months ago it was a lorry driver that I vaguely knew from a friend of a friend. Again, nobody saw it coming, and everybody was surprised: he wans't the fittest person, but he certainly didn't seem to be at deaths door. But he was.

That's what high blood pressure does: the slightest clot can become a stroke, and a heart attack becomes much more likely. Worst of all, along with diabetes, this is not even unusual anymore.

So if you are in your forties, consider buying one of these and use it once a month. Out of all the other healthy fads you may take up - keep fit, drinking lots of water, quitting smoking, aerobics, whatever, this is the one health choice that can literally save your life.

If, like me, you have already been diagnosed with high blood pressure, you really don't want to wait for your 6 month check-up to see whether your blood pressure is still under control: you need to keep an eye on it yourself, because this is not a game and you need to be sure. This monitor is one of the most portable and quickest to use. That's very important because that will encourage you to use it often.