In addition, studies show people who follow cardio and resistance training programs could significantly lower their elevated blood pressure. For optimum heart health, the American College of Cardiology, and the American Heart Association AHA recommend minutes of moderate-intensity exercise like brisk walking or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise like heavy lifting or running per week.

Consuming too much sodium can cause you to retain fluid, which can increase your blood pressure. The AHA recommends consuming no more than 2, milligrams of sodium daily, and no less than 1, to keep your blood pressure in check.

Table salt is the most common source of dietary sodium. One teaspoon of salt contains 2, milligrams of sodium. Checking nutrition labels can help you avoid extra salt that can sneak into your diet.

For example, processed foods like deli meat, chips, and canned soup are typically high in sodium. Not everyone will get high blood pressure from consuming high-sodium diets.

Some people are more sensitive to sodium. People who are not as sensitive to sodium can often urinate any extra sodium without retaining fluid or developing high blood pressure.

Increasing your intake of potassium can also help lower your blood pressure. This essential mineral helps relax blood vessels and process sodium out of your body faster. Adults with or without high blood pressure should aim for 2,, milligrams mg of potassium daily. Foods rich in potassium include:.

Your healthcare provider may also suggest following the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension DASH diet to lower blood pressure. This diet limits sodium to 1, mg a day and focuses on getting 4, mg of potassium by eating whole foods like fruits, vegetables, and low-fat meat and dairy.

Limiting sugar and refined carbohydrates carbs stripped of fiber, minerals, and vitamins can help lower blood pressure over time. A review found that diets high in sugar can increase blood pressure more than salt. Another study found that people who were overweight or had obesity lowered their blood pressure after following low-carb and low-fat diets for six months.

Low-carb diets limit carbs to grams g per day, including carbs in starchy vegetables, high-sugar fruits, bread, pasta, and sugary foods. In addition, AHA recommends that men limit sugar to 9 teaspoons 36 g and women limit sugar to 6 teaspoons 25 g daily.

For reference, a ounce soda contains nearly 8 teaspoons 32 g of added sugar. Stress is linked to high blood pressure. However, research shows that stress-reducing activities like yoga and meditation may help people lower their blood pressure.

A review found that people who did yoga decreased their diastolic and systolic blood pressure more than those who didn't exercise. However, the yoga included breathing control, yoga postures, and meditation. Another review found transcendental meditation and mindfulness-based stress reduction helped slightly reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure in people who were taking and not taking blood pressure medication.

While you snooze, your body naturally lowers blood pressure. So if you don't get adequate sleep, you'll have higher blood pressure for longer durations. Therefore, people who experience insomnia and sleep deprivation —especially people 45 years or older—are more at risk of high blood pressure.

A research article also found evidence that people who sleep less than seven hours at night are more likely to have high blood pressure.

Over time, not getting enough sleep may cause blood pressure to rise, so finding time to get at least seven hours each night may help lower your blood pressure. Diets rich in protein and fiber may help lower high blood pressure. To increase your protein intake, look for foods containing at least 7 g per ounce.

High-protein foods include fish, eggs, meat, beans, legumes, nuts, and dairy products like cheese and Greek yogurt. Research has also shown that whey protein supplements may help lower systolic blood pressure. It is estimated that consuming at least 3 g of docosahexaenoic acid DHA and eicosapentaenoic acid EPA omega-3 fatty acids may help decrease your blood pressure.

These forms of polyunsaturated fat are essential for a healthy body and heart health. A meta-analysis found that fish oil an omega-3 supplement helped reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels in people with high blood pressure.

The U. Food and Drug Administration also supports that consuming omega-3 from food and dietary supplements reduces the risk of high blood pressure and coronary heart disease.

Eating more omegarich foods like salmon, tuna, flaxseed, and chia seed can also help you improve your omega-3 levels. While research is limited, it's purported that taking magnesium , and garlic specifically kyolic garlic as dietary supplements may help lower your blood pressure. High blood pressure has been linked to a magnesium deficiency, and magnesium can help your body maintain a normal heart rhythm.

Research also shows that L-citrulline—a type of amino acid forms proteins—can help people lower systolic blood pressure. This may be because L-citrulline helps increase nitric oxide levels, relaxing the arteries and improving blood flow.

Before taking any dietary supplements, chat with your healthcare provider. Drinking alcohol can increase your blood pressure, and interact with blood pressure medications you may be taking.

Research has shown that drinking more than 30 g of alcohol increases systolic and diastolic blood pressure after 13 or more hours of drinking—even though it initially lowered blood pressure. If you are diagnosed with hypertension, your healthcare provider may suggest cutting back or eliminating alcohol.

Try limiting alcohol to one ounce beer, one 4-ounce glass of wine, or only 1. Due to the nicotine in tobacco, smoking temporarily increases heart rate and blood pressure each time you smoke. However, the long-term effect of smoking on blood pressure is a little unclear.

An extensive review found that smokers had lower blood pressure than nonsmokers. Conversely, a study found smoking worsened high blood pressure in young adults. A study also found that smoking electronic cigarettes increased blood pressure in people with high blood pressure.

Despite the inconclusive research, smoking can damage your heart and blood vessels. As a result, major organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC recommend quitting smoking to help manage high blood pressure and heart disease risk.

Caffeine can temporarily raise your blood pressure, even if you don't have high blood pressure. However, this effect isn't a risk for most people, and some research even shows caffeine may help lower the risk of high blood pressure.

That said, people with high blood pressure may have issues with caffeine. A study found that people with hypertension increased their blood pressure and their risk of heart disease if they drank more than two cups of coffee every day.

Although research on this is limited, even the AHA notes that people with high blood pressure should limit caffeine and drink only one 8-ounce cup of coffee or caffeinated tea daily.

Even with lifestyle changes, your healthcare provider may recommend taking prescription medications to help lower your blood pressure. Blood pressure medications used to treat hypertension include:.

The simplest ways to lower your blood pressure are implementing lifestyle changes that involve a nutritious diet, lowering sodium, and exercise. Other things that help are reducing stress, getting more sleep, and limiting alcohol consumption. If you have high blood pressure, talk with your healthcare provider before making any drastic dietary changes or adding new supplements to your diet.

Your healthcare provider can help you determine the best methods to reduce blood pressure for you. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Facts about hypertension. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. What is high blood pressure. Dimeo F, Pagonas N, Seibert F, Arndt R, Zidek W, Westhoff TH. Aerobic exercise reduces blood pressure in resistant hypertension.

Huang G, Shi X, Gibson CA, Huang SC, Coudret NA, Ehlman MC. Controlled aerobic exercise training reduces resting blood pressure in sedentary older adults. Blood Press. Arnett DK, Blumenthal RS, Albert MA, et al. The American Heart Association. Shaking the salt habit to lower high blood pressure.

Food and Drug Administration. Sodium in your diet. Choi HY, Park HC, Ha SK. Salt sensitivity and hypertension: A paradigm shift from kidney malfunction to vascular endothelial dysfunction. Electrolyte Blood Press. National Institutes of Health. Sodium, potassium and health.

Dinicolantonio J, Lucan S. The wrong white crystals: Not salt but sugar as aetiological in hypertension and cardiometabolic disease. Open Heart; Ge L, Sadeghirad B, Ball GDC, et al.

Comparison of dietary macronutrient patterns of 14 popular named dietary programmes for weight and cardiovascular risk factor reduction in adults: systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised trials. Oh R, Gilani B, Uppaluri KR. Low carbohydrate diet. In: StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing; American Heart Association.

How much sugar is too much? Managing stress to control high blood pressure. Hagins M, States R, Selfe T, Innes K. Effectiveness of yoga for hypertension: systematic review and meta-analysis. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. Goldstein CM, Josephson R, Xie S, Hughes JW. Current perspectives on the use of meditation to reduce blood pressure.

Int J Hypertens. Discrimination at work is linked to high blood pressure. Icy fingers and toes: Poor circulation or Raynaud's phenomenon? If you suddenly find yourself with high blood pressure hypertension under the new guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, you might be wondering what to do.

While you shouldn't shrug off the change, there's also no need to panic. Naomi Fisher, director of hypertension service and hypertension innovation at the Brigham and Women's Hospital Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Hypertension, and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

The change, however, should spur you to take your blood pressure seriously. They may seem drastic, but in putting the knowledge we've gained from large trials into clinical practice, they will help thousands of people," says Dr. The goal of the new guidelines is to encourage you to treat your high blood pressure seriously and to take action to bring it down, primarily using lifestyle interventions.

Making those changes can be challenging. More than one woman has woken up in the morning committed to healthy eating only to be derailed by a plate of cookies on a table in the office or a dinner out with friends.

You don't have to embark on a major life overhaul to make a difference in your blood pressure. Here are six simple tips for actions you can take to help get your blood pressure back into the normal range. By far the most effective means of reducing elevated blood pressure is to lose weight , says Fisher.

And it doesn't require major weight loss to make a difference. Even losing as little as 10 pounds can lower your blood pressure. Americans eat far too much dietary sodium, up to three times the recommended total amount, which is 1, milligrams mg daily for individuals with high blood pressure, says Dr.

There's half of that amount of sodium in one Egg McMuffin breakfast sandwich. Weed out high-sodium foods by reading labels carefully.

Beware in particular of what the American Heart Association has dubbed the "salty six," common foods where high amounts of sodium may be lurking:. It doesn't take much exercise to make a difference in your health.

Aim for a half-hour at least five days a week. Women lose muscle mass steadily as we age, and weightlifting is an often-overlooked part of an exercise plan for most women," says Fisher. Stress hormones constrict your blood vessels and can lead to temporary spikes in blood pressure.

In addition, over time, stress can trigger unhealthy habits that put your cardiovascular health at risk. These might include overeating, poor sleep, and misusing drugs and alcohol. For all these reasons, reducing stress should be a priority if you're looking to lower your blood pressure.

As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles.

No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. Thanks for visiting. Don't miss your FREE gift.

The Best Diets for Cognitive Fitness , is yours absolutely FREE when you sign up to receive Health Alerts from Harvard Medical School. Sign up to get tips for living a healthy lifestyle, with ways to fight inflammation and improve cognitive health , plus the latest advances in preventative medicine, diet and exercise , pain relief, blood pressure and cholesterol management, and more.

Get helpful tips and guidance for everything from fighting inflammation to finding the best diets for weight loss from exercises to build a stronger core to advice on treating cataracts. PLUS, the latest news on medical advances and breakthroughs from Harvard Medical School experts.

Discrimination at work is linked to high blood pressure. Icy fingers and toes: Poor circulation or Raynaud's phenomenon? If you suddenly find yourself with high blood pressure hypertension under the new guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, you might be wondering what to do.

While you shouldn't shrug off the change, there's also no need to panic. Naomi Fisher, director of hypertension service and hypertension innovation at the Brigham and Women's Hospital Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Hypertension, and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

The change, however, should spur you to take your blood pressure seriously. They may seem drastic, but in putting the knowledge we've gained from large trials into clinical practice, they will help thousands of people," says Dr.

The goal of the new guidelines is to encourage you to treat your high blood pressure seriously and to take action to bring it down, primarily using lifestyle interventions.

Making those changes can be challenging. More than one woman has woken up in the morning committed to healthy eating only to be derailed by a plate of cookies on a table in the office or a dinner out with friends. You don't have to embark on a major life overhaul to make a difference in your blood pressure.

Here are six simple tips for actions you can take to help get your blood pressure back into the normal range. By far the most effective means of reducing elevated blood pressure is to lose weight , says Fisher.

And it doesn't require major weight loss to make a difference. Even losing as little as 10 pounds can lower your blood pressure. Americans eat far too much dietary sodium, up to three times the recommended total amount, which is 1, milligrams mg daily for individuals with high blood pressure, says Dr.

There's half of that amount of sodium in one Egg McMuffin breakfast sandwich. Weed out high-sodium foods by reading labels carefully. Beware in particular of what the American Heart Association has dubbed the "salty six," common foods where high amounts of sodium may be lurking:. It doesn't take much exercise to make a difference in your health.

Aim for a half-hour at least five days a week. Women lose muscle mass steadily as we age, and weightlifting is an often-overlooked part of an exercise plan for most women," says Fisher. Stress hormones constrict your blood vessels and can lead to temporary spikes in blood pressure. In addition, over time, stress can trigger unhealthy habits that put your cardiovascular health at risk.

These might include overeating, poor sleep, and misusing drugs and alcohol. For all these reasons, reducing stress should be a priority if you're looking to lower your blood pressure. As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content.

Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. Thanks for visiting. Don't miss your FREE gift.

The Best Diets for Cognitive Fitness , is yours absolutely FREE when you sign up to receive Health Alerts from Harvard Medical School. Sign up to get tips for living a healthy lifestyle, with ways to fight inflammation and improve cognitive health , plus the latest advances in preventative medicine, diet and exercise , pain relief, blood pressure and cholesterol management, and more.

Get helpful tips and guidance for everything from fighting inflammation to finding the best diets for weight loss from exercises to build a stronger core to advice on treating cataracts. PLUS, the latest news on medical advances and breakthroughs from Harvard Medical School experts.

Shimbo D, et al. Self-measured blood pressure monitoring at home: A joint policy statement from the American Heart Association and the American Medical Association.

Department of Health and Human Services and U. Department of Agriculture. Accessed April 23, Libby P, et al. Systemic hypertension: Mechanisms, diagnosis, and treatment. In: Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine.

Sleep deprivation and deficiency: Healthy sleep habits. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Managing stress to control high blood pressure. American Heart Association. Products and Services A Book: Mayo Clinic on High Blood Pressure Blood Pressure Monitors at Mayo Clinic Store The Mayo Clinic Diet Online.

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