Did you know that measuring your own blood pressure makes you more relaxed? At home, you'll get more predictable results, and you can store the readings and email them to your doctor. Let's look at all the undoubted advantages of taking your own blood pressure.

It's time to check your blood pressure! Here's some simple, practical advice on how to do this correctly, including how to hold your arm, how to repeat the measurement, and what to do during and after the process.

Eating too much salt is one of the main causes of arterial hypertension. You need less than 5 grams a day, but you may be unwittingly consuming much more, increasing the risk of high blood pressure. But don't be alarmed: gradually reducing the salt in your diet will make you healthy and help you to enjoy the true flavour of food.

Arrhythmia is a cardiac anomaly that causes irregular sequences of heartbeats; too slow, too fast, or nonlinear. In this case, not all blood pressure monitors will help you, and you should use products purpose built for this type of pathology, such as the latest generation of automatic digital monitors.

You need to buy a blood pressure monitor, but you don't know which one to choose. Here's a guide to the various types, to help you find the right one for your everyday situation: the pros and cons of each one, how accurate and easy to read they are, and whether they're safe.

When your doctor prescribes 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure or Holter monitoring, you'll spend a day wearing a recorder the size of a cigarette packet attached to a cuff and worn on your left or right arm. This system monitors your blood pressure day and night for 24 hours.

Blood pressure is determined directly by the work done by the heart, which acts as a pump absorbing and releasing the blood. Changes in blood pressure depend on the relationship between the quantity of blood pumped by the heart and the resistance of the blood vessels.

Hypertension means high blood pressure, and is the most common cardiovascular risk factor - in other words, the probability of heart attack or stroke. In Italy, according to the most recent statistics, only 35% of people have had this checked, so each year there are many preventable cardiovascular incidents.

Cholesterol is essential for our bodies, but if there is too much in the blood and the liver cannot break it down, it causes atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases which, in its most extreme forms, can provoke heart attacks and strokes. All in all, cholesterol is one of the most controversial substances circulating in our bodies