On your way to 120/80 or lower, make sure you’re getting an accurate blood pressure reading at your doctor’s office.  It’s bad enough that 30% of machines in doctor’s offices are not calibrated correctly and just being there makes you nervous.  Sitting on the examining table with your feet dangling, arms hanging down, with sleeves on, chatting up the nurse – all of these are NO-NO’S.  Wear short sleeves, always use the same arm, and keep your arm raised and bent so your elbow is as high as your heart – the blood draw chair is great for this.  Relax with deep breaths when you sit in that chair with your feet on the ground and sit quietly without talking until the cuff comes off.  Request a second reading at the end of the visit if the first one was high. Speaking of the cuff, did you ever notice that all upper arms are not the same size?  That skinny granny arm or beefy manchop are not the same size, so request the right size cuff if you’re either side of average.  You might consider putting 2 hours between your BP reading and your cup of coffee, exercise session, or certain meds.  I won’t even address smoking.  Forget about the BP machine at the drugstore, consistently off, so if you want a good home machine, plan on spending about $70 on an A&O or Omron unit with a cuff.