11 Tricks to Lower Your Blood Pressure

Keep in mind that you should not use grapefruit juice with a number of other medications, including calcium channel blockers used to treat blood pressure and statin drugs to lower cholesterol. Lifestyle steps typically are supported by medication to reduce blood pressure. If you have persistent high blood pressure, your healthcare provider may recommend a medication to lower your blood pressure.

People who were categorized as overweight were able to lower their risk of obesity by 64 percent by stepping it up and increasing their daily step count to 11,000. If you fall into the elevated category, then, with a consistent change in diet and exercise, you can likely bring down your blood pressure without needing medications. These results are equivalent to the effects of standard blood pressure medications. In all, 93 percent of the participants were able to reduce their dose or eliminate medications entirely. In addition to the diet, participants get regular exercise, drink adequate amounts of water, and get a good night’s sleep. A new program developed by a research team focuses on diet, exercise, and sleep as the keys to lowering your blood pressure without using drugs.

Both meditation and deep breathing may activate the parasympathetic nervous system. This system is engaged when the body relaxes, slowing the heart rate and lowering blood pressure. In fact, people who drink caffeinated coffee or tea tend to have a lower risk of heart disease, including high blood pressure, than those who do not drink it (16).

Try meditation or deep breathing

There are similar devices on the market to get your diaphragm and other breathing muscles in better shape — and to possibly lower your blood pressure. “If that’s maintained over the long term, that’s enough to decrease the risk for cardiovascular disease by 25 percent,” Craighead says. The third facet is stress relief techniques such as yoga, introspection, and other mindfulness exercises. Freeman says that for many patients, the prospect of taking a simple medication is seen as easier and more appealing than undergoing lifestyle changes. By the end of this period, half of the participants had lowered their blood pressure to a recommended level while other participants also attained lower blood pressure.

1. Exercise strengthens the heart, meaning it doesn’t have to work as hard to pump blood.
2. Additionally, some research suggests that doing more exercise than this reduces your blood pressure even further (4).
3. Simply get up for a bit every 20 to 30 minutes, and at least every hour—even non-exercise activities like standing and light walking really can lower BP over time, especially if you start to sit less and less.
4. The first two are following a predominantly plant-based, whole food, unprocessed diet combined with getting at least 30 minutes of moderately rigorous, restless exercise per day.
5. Our bodies react to stress by releasing hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.

You may have heard that you need to get in 10,000 steps a day for good health, but it looks like 8,200 may be the magic number, according to recent research from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. The study, which included more than 6,000 people with a median age of 57, used electronic health records as well as data from their Fitbit devices to reach this conclusion. High-intensity breathing seems to work by promoting the production of nitric oxide, a heart-helpful compound in the cells that line blood vessel walls, Craighead says. Regular breathing workouts help to expand blood vessels, improving blood flow. You can also explore the DASH Diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) and a Mediterranean diet approach. Diet is one big component of blood pressure reduction, but so is exercise.

Follow a Heart-Healthy Diet

Keep in mind, though, that going on medication for high blood pressure doesn’t mean you’ll be on it forever. Participants in the mindfulness group also reduced their sedentary time by an average of 351 minutes each week, the researchers found. Researchers have found that mindfulness might be an effective strategy for lowering blood pressure. Here are a few more unexpected strategies, though it’s important to note that if you’re on blood pressure medication, you should never stop taking it without consulting your doctor. While virtually all patients will see promising results just a few weeks after incorporating lifestyle changes, they’ll need to continue the regimen in order to maintain good health. Keep in mind that any supplements you take can have side effects or contribute to drug interactions, so discuss their use with a healthcare provider.

Dark chocolate may help to lower blood pressure because of its flavonol content, which can relax blood vessels through vasodilation and improve blood flow. Even switching to a less harmful alternative, like e-cigarettes, could benefit blood pressure. One study found that smokers who reduced or quit smoking addiction and recovery by switching to e-cigarettes effectively lowered their blood pressure long-term. While these two behaviors could also fall under “stress reduction techniques,” meditation and deep breathing deserve specific mention. In people who are overweight, losing weight can make a big difference to heart health.

simple strategies can help control your high blood pressure without medication

High blood pressure affects nearly half of American adults and 1 billion people worldwide (1, 2). Your blood pressure is the pressure of blood pushing against the walls of your arteries, according to the CDC. When people stick to DASH as much as is realistic, they can reap the benefits to the tune of 4-mmHg improvements in systolic BP and 2-mmHg improvements in diastolic BP. News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Prevention, Better Homes & Gardens and Reader’s Digest.

Try to lose weight if applicable

If you haven’t hopped on the zero-proof beverage bandwagon yet, your invitation has arrived. Not only does drinking more alcohol than the standard rec of one drink per day for women and two for men raise blood pressure, but it can also make BP medications less effective, according to Dr. Jean. In fact, research shows that alcohol has a “direct and linear” relationship with systolic blood pressure (the first number in your BP reading), meaning that the more you drink, the higher that number creeps. While plenty of health conditions make you painfully aware of their presence via any number of impossible-to-ignore symptoms, high blood pressure (a.k.a. hypertension) can be a sneakier beast. You can literally walk around all day, every day without a clue that your blood pressure numbers are higher than they should be—many people don’t have physical symptoms that they can feel. Although people who have high blood pressure (which is nearly half of adults in the US) might not have any discomfort from it most of the time, it’s really serious.

Studies have demonstrated small improvements in blood pressure that occur in people taking calcium, potassium, and magnesium supplements, but research results can be mixed. One review of studies on vitamin D, for example, found evidence that people with adequate vitamin D intake (deficiencies are common) had a lower risk of hypertension, but it, too, called for more study. Regular exercise, even as simple as walking, seems to be just as effective at lowering blood pressure as commonly used BP drugs, according to a 2018 meta-analysis of hundreds of studies. Exercise strengthens the heart, meaning it doesn’t have to work as hard to pump blood. Brandie D. Williams, M.D., a cardiologist at Texas Health Stephenville and Texas Health Physicians Group, recommends shooting for 30 minutes of cardio on most days. Over time, you can keep challenging your ticker by increasing speed, upping distance, or adding weights.

Reducing the sodium in your diet can be difficult because many foods that you don’t think of as salty actually contain a lot of sodium. You’ll have to adjust your diet and monitor food labels; a dietitian can help with this. A high blood pressure diagnosis begins with a systolic (first number) reading of 130 or more, or a diastolic pressure (second number) of 80 or more. Unfortunately, there is no quick way to lower blood pressure without medical intervention and careful monitoring.

High blood pressure significantly ups your risk of heart attack and stroke, makes you more likely to develop kidney disease, and can even mess with your sex drive. Long-term lifestyle changes, such as reducing salt intake and managing stress, are the best way to bring blood pressure down. An immediate way to reduce stress is to get active, stretch, and practice deep breathing. Alongside the Mediterranean diet, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet is consistently ranked as one of the absolute healthiest eating plans—and it was developed specifically to lower blood pressure without medication. The diet emphasizes veggies, fruits, whole grains, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy, capping daily sodium intake at 2,300 mg, with an ideal limit at that all-important 1,500 mg.

By Sarah Bence, OTR/LSarah Bence, OTR/L, is an occupational therapist and freelance writer. She specializes in a variety of health topics including mental health, dementia, celiac disease, excessive alcohol use and risks to women’s health and endometriosis. Below are the answers to some frequently asked questions about lowering high blood pressure. The effect is even greater when weight loss is paired with exercise (23).

Getting 2,000 to 4,000 mg of potassium a day can help lower blood pressure, says Linda Van Horn, Ph.D., R.D., a professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Because the nutrient encourages the kidneys to excrete 12 step programs for addiction recovery more sodium through urination. We all know about the potassium in bananas, but foods like potatoes, spinach, and beans actually pack more potassium than the fruit. Tomatoes, avocados, edamame, watermelon, and dried fruits are other great sources.