What is Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) ?
Normally, your heart contracts and relaxes to a regular beat. Certain cells in your heart produce electrical signals that cause the heart to contract and pump blood. Atrial fibrillation occurs when rapid, disorganized electrical signals are present in the heart’s two upper chambers, called the atria; causing them to contract quickly fast and irregularly (this is called fibrillation). Atrial fibrillation is the most common form of heart arrhythmia or irregular heartbeat. You can live with atrial fibrillation, but it can lead to other rhythm problems, chronic fatigue, heart failure and - worst of all - a stroke. You’ll need a doctor to help you control the problem.


How does AFib impact my family or me ?
One in every six strokes is AFib-related. Whilst individuals above the age of 65 are more likely to have AFib, individuals as young as 40 can exhibit AFib. Early diagnosis can help reduce the risk of a stroke. Knowing your blood pressure and knowing whether you or your family members have AFib can help reduce the risk of stroke. HL858DK AFib detection provides a convenient way to detect the specific characteristics for AFib during the measuring pulse period.

What is blood pressure ?
Blood pressure is the measurement of the force of blood pushing against the walls of the arteries. Arterial blood pressure is constantly fluctuating during the course of the cardiac cycle. The highest pressure in the cycle is called the systolic blood pressure, and represents the pressure in the artery when the heart is beating. The lowest pressure is the diastolic blood pressure, and represents the pressure in the artery when the heart is at rest. Both the systolic and the diastolic pressure are necessary for a physician to evaluate the status of a patient's blood pressure.

Many factors such as physical activity, anxiety or the time of day, can influence your blood pressure. Blood pressure is typically low in the mornings and increases from the afternoon to the evening. It is on average lower in the summer and higher in the winter.


Why is it useful to measure blood pressure at home ?
Having one's blood pressure measured by a doctor in a hospital or a clinic, is often associated with a phenomenon called “White Coat Hypertension” where the patient becomes nervous or anxious, thus raising his blood pressure. There are also numerous other factors that might cause your blood pressure to be raised at a specific time of day. This is why medical practitioners recommend home monitoring as it is important to get readings of blood pressure during different times of the day to really get an idea of your real blood pressure.

Medical practitioners generally recommend the “Rule of 3”, where you are encouraged to take your blood pressure three times in a row (at 3 ~ 5 minute interval), three times a day for three days. After three days you can average all the results and this will give you an accurate idea of what your blood pressure really is.