How to Lower Blood Pressure

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit
High blood pressure is also called hypertension, a condition where the pressure that moves blood through the arteries is accelerated. High blood pressure may cause blood vessel damage, which increases the risk for heart attack, heart disease, stroke and kidney failure. If you have high blood pressure, you can try to control it through diet and lifestyle changes. If you cannot decrease your blood pressure after making lifestyle changes, medication may be necessary.

Steps

Lowering Blood Pressure Through Diet

1. Get familiar with the DASH diet. Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, otherwise known as DASH, is a diet developed by doctors to aid people suffering from high blood pressure. The DASH diet recommends servings in broad food categories based on either 1,600, 2,600, or 3,100 calories per day, with a heavy focus on grains, vegetables, and fruits.[1] Some examples of DASH include:
   • Eat seven or eight servings of whole grains daily. You can get more whole grains in your diet by eating whole wheat bread, dry cereal, wheat pasta or brown rice.
   • Eat four to five servings each of fruits and vegetables of each daily. It is fine if you have some in the form of juice, cooked or canned, but be sure to eat some raw produce.
   • Choose lean meats, like poultry and fish, and limit them to two daily servings of 3 ounces or less.
   • Cut back on fats and oils. Limit fats and oils to 2 or 3 tablespoons a day, and cook with oils that are low in saturated fats. These include canola and extra virgin olive oil. Also choose low-fat condiments and spreads whenever possible.
   • Keep sweets under five servings a week. When eating sugar, jellies or jams a serving is a tablespoon. Choose low-fat sweets or fat-free candies, such as jelly beans, and limit yourself to a single serving.
   • Snack on four or five servings of nuts or seeds each week. A serving size is approximately 1/3 cup of nuts or a tablespoon of seeds.
2. Start to change your eating habits. Regardless of whether you choose to implement the DASH diet in your life, there are other small tweaks that you can use in order to reduce blood pressure. Here are some things that you can do in and outside the kitchen in order to help any change you commit to stick:
   • Keep a food journal. Write down everything you eat, no matter how little or infrequently.[2] Keeping a food journal will do two things. First, it will help you determine how well or poorly you've stuck to your game plan. Second, it will shed light on what and how much you eat, which can be incredibly illuminating.
   • Shop for items that only on your shopping list. Make a shopping list before going to the grocery store. When you get there, only buy the items that are on your list. This will help cut down on the impulse-buys — healthy or not — that dog us all.
3. Put the kibosh on sodium. In the scientific community, salt has been linked to high blood pressure for many years now.[3] Eating salt reduces your kidney's ability to process water, which in turn causes a buildup of water — and pressure — in your arteries.[4] Although you don't have to eliminate salt from your diet completely, it's a good idea to cut down. Here are some tips you can use:
   • Keep salt intake at or under 2,300 milligrams (mg) per day. Track in your food journal just how much salt you eat during the day, and make sure to stay under this level.
   • Stay away from processed foods. Processed foods like chips, fast food, and frozen meals can contain an unhealthy amount of salt. Stick with meals you cook for yourself instead.
   • Try, as much as possible, to not add salt to your meals. Even small amounts of salt will quickly push you over your 2,300 mg limit quickly. Substitute herbs and spices for salt to make up for flavor instead.
4. Get more potassium into your diet. Potassium can help counteract the effect of sodium on your arteries, thereby reducing blood pressure.[5] Although it's certainly possible to get your recommended amount of potassium through supplements, the better vehicle for absorption is actually food. Potassium-rich foods include bananas, tomatoes, lentils, kidney beans, dried apricots, salmon, and carrot juice, among others.[6]
5. Don't stress if you fall off the wagon. Starting the DASH or a DASH-like diet can be daunting, especially if you're not used to it. There will probably be times when you consciously or unconsciously slip up and end up eating a super-salty meal, or something decidedly un-DASH-like. And that's okay. Don't punish yourself for mistakes like these. Admit your mistake, get back on the wagon, and commit yourself to several days, or a week, of guilt-free eating. Ultimately, you'll be more successful at lowering your blood pressure if you learn to enjoy your DASH routine.

Lowering Blood Pressure Through Lifestyle Changes

1. Maintain a healthy weight to decrease your chances of high blood pressure. Blood pressure rises with body weight; in general, the lower your weight, the lower your blood pressure. Sticking to a heart-healthy DASH diet will help you slim down, but diet should also be coupled with exercise to take full benefit of your body's ability to lose weight.
   • Set yourself an initial goal of losing 10 pounds. Losing just 10 pounds will help lower your blood pressure significantly.[7]
   • Losing weight has the added benefit of making any blood pressure medications you take more effective.[8]
   • Pay attention to your waistline in particular. Men who have a waistline of 40 inches or more are at greater risk for hypertension; women who have a waistline of 35 inches or more are at greater risk for hypertension.
2. Exercise regularly. Live a physically active life to lower your risk for high blood pressure and heart disease. If you have hypertension, exercising can lower your blood pressure significantly; if you have prehypertension, exercise can help you avoid getting full-blown hypertension.
   • Get 30 to 60 minutes of exercise at least five days a week. You can engage in ordinary activities, such as cleaning the house, raking leaves and shoveling snow. You can also engage in more structured exercise such as swimming, jump roping, running or playing sports.
   • Walk at least 15 minutes a day. Find excuses to walk instead of to drive. Walk up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Walk to the corner store instead of driving (especially if you're getting ice cream). Increase the length of your daily walks in five-minute intervals until you are walking 40 minutes daily, plus additional exercise.
3. Cut down your alcohol intake. In small amounts (a glass of wine, or a beer, a day), alcohol can be beneficial to your health. But in larger quantities, it loses it's beneficial effect. Try to limit your alcohol intake to no more than two drinks a day. Too much alcohol will increase blood pressure, and the extra calories in the drinks contribute to weight gain.
   • Stay away from binge drinking. Defined as more than 4 alcoholic drinks in quick succession, binge drinking can have disastrous effects on your blood pressure, pushing it to unhealthy levels.
   • Taper off slowly if you drink regularly. If you regularly drink alcohol, then going cold turkey probably isn't going to cut it for you. Taper down your daily number of drinks — by one drink per week, for example — until your under the 2-drink threshold.
4. Cut down on tobacco products. Smoking cigarettes, lipping chew, and using other tobacco products will have an adverse effect on your blood pressure. Find an excuse to quit cold turkey (although you don't need an excuse) or slowly kick your habit with the help of medical professionals and friends.
5. De-stress. Scientists aren't yet sure whether there's a direct link between stress and high blood pressure, or whether stress triggers overeating, smoking, or lethargy, which in turn cause high blood pressure.[9] Either way, there's a link, and it's a link you want to avoid.
   • Identify stressors. Identify triggers or situations which may lead to stress beforehand. If possible and productive, avoid them in the first place. Often, understanding that something is likely to lead to stress can help combat it.
6. Curb your caffeine habit. Caffeine causes a temporary but striking spike in your blood pressure. Although it's unclear how caffeine causes this increase, scientists know that people who regularly drink caffeinated beverages have a higher average blood pressure than those who abstain.[10] Caffeine is particularly harmful to blood pressure levels if you are overweight or over 70 years old.
7. Try meditating, not medicating. In 1995, one study asked African-American men with high blood pressure to separate into two groups. One group would try transcendental meditation (TM), the other would try progressive muscle relaxation. Both groups would have their blood pressure measured afterward. The study found that the TM group had significantly lowered their blood pressure — twice as much as the muscle relaxation group: Systolic blood pressure fell by more than 10 points and diastolic pressure fell by more than 6 points.[11]

Tips

• Limit the amount of salt and sodium in your diet. Studies have found that diets that contain less than 1,500 mg of sodium can decrease blood pressure.

Warnings

• Quit smoking if you have been diagnosed with hypertension. Although smoking does not cause high blood pressure, it injures blood vessels and increases the chance your arteries will harden. Smoking is bad for everyone, but especially for those who have hypertension.

Related wikiHows

• How to Raise Blood Pressure

Sources and Citations

1. ↑ http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/new_dash.pdf
2. ↑ http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-blood-pressure/HI00027
3. ↑ http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/salt-sodium
4. ↑ http://www.bloodpressureuk.org/microsites/salt/Home/Whysaltisbad/Saltseffects
5. ↑ http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-blood-pressure/HI00027
6. ↑ http://potassiumrichfoods.com/potassium-rich-foods-list/
7. ↑ http://healthyliving.msn.com/health-wellness/10-ways-to-control-high-blood-pressure-without-medication-1
8. ↑ http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-blood-pressure/HI00027
9. ↑ http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/guide/hypertension-easing-stress
10. ↑ http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/blood-pressure/AN00792
11. ↑ http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/features/treating-hypertension-naturally

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Lower Blood Pressure. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Measure Blood Pressure



The Blood Pressure Solution - Lower High Blood Pressure Naturally! !