Mona SharmaCelebrity nutritionist and wellness advocate

What Your Heart Scan Isn’t Telling You

17 May 2025 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:38

In this segment of the YouTube video, Mona Sharma and a co‑speaker discuss how blood pressure (BP) is frequently measured incorrectly in clinical settings. They emphasize that accurate BP readings require a proper cuff placed on the bare upper arm (bicep) rather than a wrist cuff, a cuff that fits the arm size, and a relaxed, seated posture. The patient should sit quietly for about five minutes, with back support, feet flat on the floor, and the arm positioned at heart level. Failure to follow these steps—such as measuring immediately after arrival, using a cuff that is too large or too small, or measuring over clothing—can produce falsely normal or abnormal readings, potentially misleading clinicians about cardiovascular health.

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So feel free to correct the nurse who checks you next time. Blood pressure cuff over your bicep Bare skin instead of those cheap flimsy ones that go over your wrist, always holding up towards your heart.
Blood pressure is often not taken correctly. People are taking it right when they come in from the parking lot. They sit down, they're talking, they're still holding their coffees, they need to sit down, ideally for five minutes. Your back has to be supported, your feet has to be on the ground, your arm has to be at heart level, and they have to use a blood pressure cuff that appropriately fits on the bicep. If the blood pressure cuff's too big or too small, you're going to get falsely abdomen normal recordings. And I would not be remiss to say that, like, you need to have it on bare skin.