Free Printable Blood Pressure Log (PDF) — Plus an App That Does It For You
If your doctor asked you to "keep a log" of your blood pressure, a simple printed sheet is a perfectly good place to start. Below is a free, print-ready log you can use today — plus the small details that make a log actually useful to your doctor, and an honest note on when paper starts to hold you back.
Download the free printable log
A clean A4 sheet: date, time, systolic, diastolic, pulse, and notes, with the AHA category reference printed at the bottom.
⬇ Download Blood Pressure Log (PDF) 🖨 Open & print in browser💡 Prefer not to fuss with paper? BP Log records readings in a tap, auto-classifies them by AHA category, and makes a doctor-ready PDF for you. See BP Log →
How to Record a Reading Correctly
A log is only as good as the readings in it. A few habits make your numbers trustworthy:
- Sit and rest for 5 minutes first — feet flat, back supported, arm resting at heart level.
- Take two readings, one minute apart, and write down the average. Single readings bounce around.
- Same times each day — commonly morning and evening, before medication and before food or caffeine.
- Note the context — medication taken, stress, exercise, or symptoms. That's what the Notes column is for.
New to home monitoring? Our guide on how to track blood pressure at home walks through technique and cuff placement in detail.
What the Numbers Mean
Each reading has two numbers: systolic (the top number, pressure when the heart beats) and diastolic (the bottom number, pressure at rest). The American Heart Association groups them like this:
- Normal: less than 120 and less than 80
- Elevated: 120–129 and less than 80
- Hypertension Stage 1: 130–139 or 80–89
- Hypertension Stage 2: 140 or higher, or 90 or higher
- Hypertensive Crisis: higher than 180 and/or higher than 120 — seek care
Not sure which category a reading falls into? Our free blood pressure category checker classifies any reading instantly, and normal blood pressure by age puts the ranges in context. One high reading isn't a diagnosis — trends over days and weeks are what matter, which is exactly why a log helps.
How to Use the Log With Your Doctor
- Bring at least 7 days of readings to an appointment — more is better.
- Highlight anything unusual you noted (a spike, a missed dose, a stressful day).
- Don't self-adjust medication based on your log. Bring the pattern; let your doctor interpret it.
When Paper Starts to Hold You Back
Paper is great to start. It gets awkward when you want to see the trend: flipping pages to compare last Tuesday to this one, working out a 7-day average in your head, or reprinting the sheet every month. That's the point where an app quietly wins.
BP Log keeps the same simple habit — enter systolic, diastolic, pulse — then does the parts paper can't: it classifies each reading by AHA category, shows 7-day averages and trends, and exports a clean PDF report you can hand to your doctor. It's free, works offline, and has no ads. The paper log and the app aren't rivals; the log is a fine on-ramp, and the app is where it goes when you want the numbers to actually tell you something.
