This morning at my First Responder class we learned how to use the blood pressure thingies (I don't even know what they're called, the pad you put over your arm and you squeeze the rubber ball to inflate it thing that you've all had done). You're supposed to apply a stethescope to your arm while you do this. You pump it up until you can't hear the heart beat anymore, then let the needle fall until you can. Then let it fall some more until the sound starts to fade out again. My partner was kinda weird and apparently was afraid to use the stethescope 'cause there might have been ear wax on it so I had to do it to myself... Anyways, the result I got was 142/88 or thereabouts. That's pretty darn high when you consider I'm only 20 years old.

Some mitigating circumstances that I hope might help explain it away:
- I had just finished a large cup of coffe
- This was early in the morning and I only got about 3-4 hours of sleep the night before
- I had to take not one, but two important tests right after we did the said exercise so I was fairly nervous.

Could these circumstances possibly account for my ridiculously high BP? If not, would this basically rule out any military service for me? How bleak is my future in general???

Thanks

There are so many things that can make a blood pressure reading go up that its ridiculous. Just try taking it again when you are calm and without the caffeine.

i wouldn't be too worried about it either. Pick a day when your relaxed and no caffeine in the system

You are gonna die.
Give me your guns.

In all seriousness, the caffiene and stress can contribute to hypertension, I wouldn't worry too much about it.
And its called a sphygmomanometer.
Say that 3 times fast, I dare ya.

Firstly....sphygmomanometer.


Second, a lot of things can raise the BP, like an incorreectly sized cuff, repeatedly taking the BP in the same arm within several minutes.

And you need a baseline, not just one BP. You need a bunch over a few days. One high BP doesn't mean you have high BP.