Commonly used arm positions can overestimate blood pressure readings: study

Another fun factor I learned about five years ago is temperature. My gym was offering a complimentary fitness evaluation, which among other things included a blood pressure test. The trainer was horrified to see 140-something over something equally terrible, and started explaining how she'd have to refer me to a doctor and advise that I refrain from strenuous physical activity, until I showed her a report from my annual physical a few days prior with 106/70. Turns out that walking to the gym in shorts and a T-shirt in late January causes enough vasoconstriction to really screw with some measurements.

I once had a similar high outlier blood pressure reading after a somewhat busy day followed by running through the city to my blood donation appointment. Who knew that BP is affected by external factors and doesn't stay constant throughout the day‽‽

Having a full bladder will raise your blood pressure.

I had a similar trip to the blood bank once: I rode my motorcycle from Palm Springs to San Diego, straight to the blood bank, on a cold January morning. As usual, they took my temperature. It was 95-something. They said, "Are you feeling alright?" I said, "Sure, I should have worn better clothing for the ride down here, but I'm fine." They conferred, then took my cold blood :-)

It raises my heartrate as well. I know my bladder is full many times due to the heartrate rather than feeling my bladder. I'm not sure if others notice this. I assumed without looking at the anatomy that the arteries to the lower extremities are under pressure from the bladder.

Any exercise will raise your BP by quite a bit.

No medical advice should be given on the basis of a single blood pressure test.

I've donated blood about a dozen times, my BP has been high on one or two occasions but only if it was a pattern after two or three times did they flag it up, and since it went back down the next time it was no longer a problem.

They did send me letters about the amount of ferritine in the blood though; the first time it was too high (probably due to having a thing for food that turned out to be high in iron for a while around that time) and they advised I see a doctor for it, but it went down on its own after that. And the last time it was too low, but that's a normal thing if you donate blood a few times (it was every two months for a while), they basically don't summon you again for six months.

TL;DR, a single measurement says nothing.

The first time I’ve seen an interrobang used in the wild!

what an AWESOME use of "‽"