Natural Ways to Lower Blood Pressure
Today, we’ll be talking about some of the factors that impact your blood pressure and provide Lifestyle tips. There are quite a few and we know that it can be hard to implement more than one, so start at the top and make your way down. Small steps are better than no steps!
Without further ado, let’s get started!
1. Trim a few pounds and keep them off!
Losing weight can be difficult, keeping the weight off can be even harder. We recommend talking to a dietician to figure out the best plan for you. For something quick and free, here is a link to a resource!
Keep track of your weight with an at home scale.
2. Eat the DASH diet
- These are a set of recommendations known as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.
3. Exercise!
- Exercise can help reduce blood pressure by increasing your body’s ability to pump blood throughout your body. Being consistent is key! Here are some options for activity trackers.
4. Reduce your salt intake.
- The American Heart Association recommends no more than 1,500mg of salt in our diet. For the salty taste without the bad effect, try using lemon juice, vinegar, or potassium salt.
5. Reduce your stress!
- Stress has been shown to contribute to hypertension and cardiovascular disease. One way this occurs is through continuous high levels of cortisol that make physical changes on the body. Try one of these methods to reduce your stress: Cognitive Behavior Therapy, transcendental meditation, biofeedback.
6. Quit Smoking.
- It’s not easy, but there are many programs and resources out there to help you get started!
7. Limit the amount of alcohol you drink.
- Drinking alcohol contributes to weight gain, hypertension, and stress among other conditions. Limiting how much you drink is important for daily health. Learn more!
8. Get better sleep!
Studies show that poor sleep or not enough sleep can worsen hypertension. If you think sleep is a big factor in controlling your blood pressure, consider a sleep study !
You can also try using a tracker to determine the amount of sleep you get and help form healthy habits around sleep.
New devices, like the URGOnight, have also been shown to improve sleep.
The links above are from hours of research to find quality products, but they aren’t personalized recommendations… YET. We are currently in the process of creating tools to help you pick the best products for you! We will let you know when the next quizzes are available!
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Scientific Evidence for the Each of the Lifestyle Factors discussed above:
Weight Loss: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/01.hyp.0000094221.86888.ae
DASH: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejm200101043440101
Salt Intake: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6770596/
Stress: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2268875/
Smoking: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/01.HYP.37.2.194
Alcohol: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/hy1101.093424
Sleep: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2913764/
Disclaimer: Takeoff Health may make a small commission from some of the links above.
