Blood pressure is a core indicator of your health, so measuring it accurately is vitally important. Having high blood pressure is known as hypertension, and puts you at risk of having a heart attack or stroke, among other serious conditions. It’s not immediately obvious whether you suffer from hypertension, which is why it’s known as the ‘silent killer’ – it’s often discovered too late. Indeed, around 17% of people in Canada with hypertension aren’t aware they have the condition.
Most Canadians only measure blood pressure when having a physical exam in a medical setting, which provides a snapshot of heart health, not the overall picture. Indeed, there’s a common phenomenon called ‘white coat hypertension’, where you get a falsely high blood pressure reading due to the stress of being in a medical setting. If you’ve ever felt anxious when going to the doctor, it turns out that stress can do peculiar things to your blood pressure. Hypertension Canada recommends taking tests at home to rule out white coat hypertension.
Testing at home
One-off tests at home also have limited value, as blood pressure doesn’t stay the same day and night. It can peak around midday and tends to rise before and after you wake up, so you need to take multiple readings to get an accurate picture of your heart health. Factors like engaging in physical activity or smoking before the test can also cause irregular readings.
Until Hilo launched, there were two choices when taking your blood pressure at home.
Firstly you could use an old school cuff to manually take your blood pressure, which works by inflating a cuff to temporarily stop blood flow, before detecting pressure as it deflates. This is both uncomfortable and inconvenient, as the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada has a lengthy list of all you need to do before and during a home test. This includes: Resting against the back of a chair for at least five minutes before measuring and during the process; not talking; having the edge of the cuff placed 3 centimetres above the elbow; not smoking or drinking coffee or tea 30 minutes before taking a test; making sure to go to the bathroom before taking a test; and manually writing down your readings. While none of these are arduous on their own, together they are an inconvenience, especially when it’s more effective to take multiple tests per day.
Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) is a second method of testing at home. This has you wear a cuff device that automatically measures blood pressure over 24 hours by inflating at regular intervals. The issue with this method is having a regularly inflating cuff can cause arm soreness and ultimately disrupt your sleep. Given that sleeping badly can worsen blood pressure, this seems a problematic way to monitor blood pressure.
How Hilo is different
Hilo disrupts the status quo by coming in the form of a lightweight wristband, making multiple recordings per day and night without disrupting your sleep. Rather than gripping your arm tightly the Hilo Band measures your blood pressure by using optical sensors. Given that old-school cuffs were invented in 1896, bringing the process of measuring blood pressure into the 21st Century is long overdue.
You don’t need to manually record your results, as the band pairs with the Hilo app (available on iOS and Android) before converting measurements into an easy-to-read dataset, allowing you to monitor your progress and share information about your blood pressure with a health professional.
Blood pressure cuffs can be inaccurate when they are too large or small for your arms. For plus-sized people a too-small cuff can give inaccurately high blood pressure readings, which can lead to you being prescribed medication you don’t need. On the other side of the coin, underestimation can result in missed cases of hypertension.
Hilo deals with this size issue by having a product that by default caters for a wrist circumference of 12-19 centimetres, as well as a larger band that’s available for wrists between 16-21 centimetres.
How does the accuracy of the Hilo Band compare with a cuff?
Crucially, the inaccuracies that come with a one-off measurement are alleviated, as the Hilo Band takes an average of 25 measurements per day. Given that Hilo Band is water resistant (second generation), comfortable, and lasts up to 15 days on one battery charge, there’s rarely a need to take it off.
Currently Hilo requires users to undertake a 10-minute calibration with a cuff once a month, to cross-reference your measurements and make sure they are precise. However with further research and development this process could one day be done away with altogether, as a study revealed that Hilo’s method of using optical signals is capable of being more accurate than using an old school cuff.
Health Canada approved
It’s normal for new technology to have its hiccups, so Hilo has opened the technology to scrutiny from researchers and health regulators across the world – with stunning results.
Health Canada, the federal regulator, publicly approved of the product in November 2024, joining a list that includes the US, EU, UK, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and New Zealand.
There have been extensive clinical validation studies where the Hilo Band has performed extremely well, including in the highly-respected peer-reviewed journal, Scientific Reports.
The scrutinisation has always been a core part of Hilo’s philosophy, as the band was launched after nearly two decades of research, beginning with optical signal analysis predating smartwatches. Tests were conducted on pigs, then humans, after which the first prototype was launched in 2017.
Hilo was first commercialised in 2018 in Switzerland, before expanding and developing across the globe – with the mission of making blood pressure testing a painless and accurate process fit for today.
Join the Hilo movement to get accurate and clinically-validated readings today!
This article is for educational purposes only and does not contain, nor replace, medical advice. Consult your physician before making any changes to your diet or lifestyle.
Sources
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Understanding and Managing Your Blood Pressure, Hypertension Canada, https://hypertension.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Understanding-and-Managing-Your-Blood-Pressure-Brochure_updated-July-4-2024.pdf, July 4 2024
Blood pressure: Does it have a daily pattern?, Mayo Clinic, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/expert-answers/blood-pressure/faq-20058115, May 22 2024
https://www.heartandstroke.ca/heart-disease/risk-and-prevention/condition-risk-factors/high-blood-pressure, accessed October 2025
University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor, https://www.ottawaheart.ca/test-procedure/ambulatory-blood-pressure-monitor, accessed October 2025
Effects of insufficient sleep on blood pressure in hypertensive patients: a 24-h study, National Library of Medicine, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10075386/, January 12 1999
History of the Sphygmomanometer, American Diagnostic Corporation, https://www.adctoday.com/learning-center/about-sphygmomanometers/history-sphygmomanometer, accessed October 2024
The quest for blood pressure markers in photoplethysmography and its applications in digital health, Frontiers in Digital Health, https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/digital-health/articles/10.3389/fdgth.2025.1518322/full, April 29 2025
Hilo Band, Hilo, https://hilo.com/ca/blood-pressure-monitor/, accessed October 2025
Infuse Your Style, Hilo, https://hilo.com/ca/accessories/, accessed October 2025
Validation of the optical Aktiia bracelet in different body positions for the persistent monitoring of blood pressure, Scientific Reports, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-99294-w, October 19 2021
Hilo Band review – Smart blood pressure tracker with medical certification, Notebook Check, https://www.notebookcheck.net/Hilo-Band-review-Smart-blood-pressure-tracker-with-medical-certification.1137501.0.html, October 14 2025
