I’ve just started monitoring my own blood pressure, and notice that my diastolic pressure — the lower number — stays pretty much the same but my systolic pressure, the higher number, is all over the place. The systolic can easily change by five or more, up or down, when I take readings within a minute or so of each other. Why? Does this indicate a problem?

Blood pressure fluctuates from minute to minute. The shifts are normal — the body’s way of adapting to changes as small as lying down or standing up. Psychological tension can raise blood pressure, and relaxation can lower it. Blood pressure medications take it down,…

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