8 Easy Ways to Lower Your Blood Pressure Take These Steps to Prevent Hypertension

High blood pressure is a dangerous condition that damages the heart, blood vessels and kidneys. It can be a time bomb waiting to go off. Fortunately, you can make a few simple lifestyle changes to lower your risk of this “silent killer” without sacrificing all your favorite foods. Read on for safe, natural ways to lower your blood pressure… If you have high blood pressure, you probably found out at your last doctor’s visit when you had that black band strapped around your upper arm. That’s because hypertension presents few symptoms. Normal blood pressure for women is 120/80 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) or lower, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). Results of the test come as two numbers, with one over the other: Your “systolic pressure” (the top number) measures the pressure of your blood against the walls of your arteries when your heart beats. Your “diastolic pressure” measures between beats. If your reading is 121/81 mm or higher, you may be pre-hypertensive or hypertensive. So how do you get your numbers down? One option is medications, such as ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitors, which widen blood vessels. Then there are beta blockers, which slow heart rate. But lifestyle changes can make a big difference, whether your blood pressure is very high or just a bit elevated. “Diet and physical activity can lower blood pressure and may reduce or eliminate the need for medications by many patients,” says Nisa M. Maruthur, M.D., an assistant professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md. Just shaving a few numbers leads to a big payoff. For example, lowering systolic blood pressure by just three points can reduce your risk of dying from heart disease by 5%, according to the AHA. (As you age, the systolic number becomes more important, because it’s the indicator of hypertension.) Here are 8 important ways to lower blood pressure naturally: 1. Make a DASH. The U.S. National Institutes of Health developed the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet to help Americans lower blood pressure. Following the DASH diet can lower systolic blood pressure by an average of 11.4 points and diastolic pressure by 5.5 points, studies show. And you reap rewards quickly: It can lower your blood pressure in as little as two weeks. The DASH diet is high in fiber, fruits and vegetables (8-10 servings daily) and low in saturated fat. It also includes fat-free or low-fat milk and dairy products, whole grains, fish, poultry and nuts. Lean red meat, sweets, added sugars and sugary drinks are allowed, but only in small quantities. Besides lowering blood pressure, the DASH diet also reduces total heart disease risk by 18%, according to a 2010 study in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. For complete details, including meal plans and recipes, read Lower Cholesterol With the DASH Diet. 2. Check labels for salt. Americans consume an average of 4,000 milligrams (mg) of sodium (or 2 teaspoons of salt) daily, nearly twice the recommended amount for healthy people, and nearly three times what people with signs of high blood pressure should be getting. Hypertensive people should limit sodium intake to less than 1,500 mg (about 2/3 teaspoon of salt) a day, doctors advise. Blame salt’s ability to absorb liquids. “Salt or foods containing sodium draw fluid into your blood vessels and tissues,” says Kelly O’Connor, R.D., a registered dietitian at the Center for Endocrinology at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Md. “The extra fluid can make your heart work harder,” she says. “As a result, your blood pressure gets higher.” A diet high in sodium also raises your risk for stomach cancer, kidney disease and osteoporosis. Although sodium occurs naturally in some foods, most of the salt in the American diet is added during food manufacturing and preparation. Besides checking the sodium content on nutrition labels, here are easy ways to cut sodium from your diet: Avoid fast food, which is often very high in sodium. Be on high alert for delicatessen meats, canned soups, packaged snacks, soy sauce, frozen dinners, salad dressings, marinades and bread, which all pack a lot of sodium. Stop adding salt to foods. At first, your meals may taste bland, but your palate will adjust, and you’ll eventually savor the taste of unsalted food. Use salt-free flavorings, such as herbs, spices, vinegars and citrus juices. Steer clear of MSG (monosodium glutamate), which, as its name implies, is high in salt. Ask your server at restaurants to prepare your meal without salt or soy sauce. 3. Pump up potassium. Besides eating too much sodium, Americans don’t eat enough potassium. This is a dangerous combination because potassium helps cut sodium’s effect on blood pressure by controlling the fluid balance in cells. Potassium also helps lower your blood pressure by relaxing arterial walls. You can take supplements, but getting potassium from food is better, says Keri M. Gans, R.D., a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. “It’s best to get your nutrients from whole foods, because they contain a variety of micronutrients and phytochemicals that your body needs versus just one nutrient found in a single pill,” Gans explains. The DASH diet is high in potassium (as well as several other heart-healthy minerals). High-potassium foods include: Kidney beans Lentils Asparagus Mushrooms Avocados Oranges and orange juice Yogurt Cantaloupe Watermelon Prunes Potatoes 4. Work it out. If you have high blood pressure, exercise can lower it by up to 10 points (of systolic pressure), and 6-10 points diastolic, studies have found. Aerobic exercise – such as walking, jogging, cycling, stair climbing and anything else that gets your heart rate up – helps lower your blood pressure “by encouraging cells in the artery walls to produce chemicals that open the blood vessels,” explains cardiologist Stephanie Coulter, M.D., director of the Texas Heart Institute’s Center for Women’s Heart and Vascular Health in Houston. When arteries are open, blood flows easily throughout the body and the pressure is closer to normal. “It’s like when your garden hose gets pinched and water flows out under higher pressure in spurts, rather than freely,” Coulter says. Exercise can also magnify the effect of other lifestyle changes. For example, people who follow the DASH diet and exercise see a greater drop in blood pressure than those who follow the diet but remain sedentary. Experts recommend getting a minimum of 150 minutes per week – about 20 minutes a day – of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise. 5. Stop smoking. Every time you smoke a cigarette, your blood pressure goes up temporarily because less oxygen gets to your heart. Over time, smoking narrows blood vessels, making it harder for blood to flow through them. That allows arteries to harden and become clogged with fat. “The toxins in cigarette smoke enter the body and damage the coronary arteries that bring blood to the heart,” says cardiologist Matthew Sorrentino, M.D., FAAC, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago. "Cholesterol builds up on the arteries, and they become blocked, which can lead to a heart attack," While quitting can’t undo damage already caused by smoking, it offers almost immediate health benefits. “The risk of having a stroke or heart attack because of past smoking dissipates pretty quickly, within a year or two of quitting,” Sorrentino says. 6. Lose weight. Being overweight or obese raises blood pressure because excess fat can cause artery walls to stiffen, making them less flexible to changes in blood flow. Losing weight helps arteries become less stiff, allowing blood pressure to fall. Dropping just 10 pounds helps. In a large study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2008, researchers found that losing as little as 9 pounds could reduce systolic pressure by an average of 6.3 points, and diastolic pressure by 3.4 points. 7. Limit alcohol. Drinking alcohol – beer, wine or spirits – can increase blood pressure. It can also increase the chance of developing other heart disease risk factors, such as high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and weight gain. Because excessive drinking or binge drinking (4-5 servings of alcohol in under two hours) can dangerously spike blood pressure, it also boosts the likelihood of having a stroke. The AHA advises people to drink moderately, which means an average of one to two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women. (A serving is 12 ounces of beer, 4 ounces of wine, 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits or 1 ounce of 100-proof spirits.) 8. Cut back on soda. Americans drink an average of 2.3 servings (28 ounces) of sugary drinks per day. But consuming fewer sugar-sweetened beverages can help lower blood pressure, according to research published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. Here’s why: The sugar in soda can cause insulin spikes that damage blood vessel walls. Cutting out one daily serving of soda, fruit punch, sweetened iced tea and other sugary drinks lowered blood pressure by about 2 points systolic and 1 point diastolic, according to the 2010 study, which looked at dieting overweight adults. Drinking sugary beverages also has been associated with an elevated risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, a combination of symptoms that boost heart disease risk.