Tips For Lowering Blood Pressure

High blood pressure (or hypertension) is a blood pressure reading above 140/90 mmHg. A high reading puts you at risk for a number of serious health conditions, including stroke and heart disease.

Fortunately, more than medication can help lower your blood pressure. Making the right lifestyle choices also helps control blood pressure.Try these quick tips to reduce your blood pressure — and maybe even lower your chance of developing heart disease. People with hypertension often need several medications to control blood pressure. But lifestyle changes can ratchet it down too, and maybe even eliminate the need for drugs."Anybody who has hypertension should be encouraged to work with their physician to try various things that might help them lower their blood pressure without the use of pharmacological agents.While medication can lower blood pressure, it may cause side effects such as leg cramps, dizziness, and insomnia. Fortunately, most people can bring down their blood pressure naturally without medication. First, get to a healthy weight. Then try these strategies to reduce the risk of heart disease.here are some tips for lowering blood pressure.

Every morning, take a brisk 15 minute walk.Amazingly, you don't need a lot of exercise to make a difference to your blood pressure. When Japanese researchers asked 168 inactive volunteers with high blood pressure to exercise at a health club for different amounts of time each week for eight weeks, blood pressure levels dropped almost as much in those who exercised for 30 to 90 minutes a week as in those who exercised for more than 90 minutes a week.
Slow breathing and meditative practices such as ongoing, yoga, and tai chi decrease stress hormones, which elevate rening, a kidney enzyme that raises blood pressure. Try 5 minutes in the morning and at night. Inhale deeply and expand your belly. Exhale and release all of your tension.

A healthy diet is another key to improving and maintaining your blood pressure.DASH may sound fancy, but it isn’t complicated. It simply means focusing on balanced nutrition and eating foods that are low in cholesterol and saturated fat. These include fruits and veggies, whole grains, and low- or no-fat dairy products. Another important factor in a successful diet is to reduce the size of your portions.

A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that home blood pressure testing can provide a better overall picture of blood pressure levels than readings in a doctor's surgery. In the study, surgery readings failed to identify 13 percent of patients who had high blood pressure only when measured in the surgery (white-coat hypertension), and 9 percent who had high blood pressure at home but not in the surgery. In addition, a study presented at the 2004 European Society of Hypertension meeting found that people who monitored their blood pressure at home had lower overall blood pressure than those who had their pressure taken only at the doctor's surgery.

By following current guidelines on exercise—30 minutes a day, most days a week—you can bring down your blood pressure significantly, says Gerald Fletcher, MD, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic, in Jacksonville, Fla., and a spokesman for the American Heart Association. If you’ve been sedentary, try aerobic exercise to reduce your systolic blood pressure—the top number—by three to five points, and the bottom by two to three, says Dr. Fletcher.People who get moving are often able to reduce the number of hypertension medications they’re on, he adds. Pick something you like—walking, running,

Drink tea instead of coffee.
An Australian study found that each one cup increase in daily tea consumption decreased systolic blood pressure by 2 points and diastolic pressure by 1 point. But the benefits ended after 4 cups.  Drink a glass of orange juice every morning and another at night. One U.S. study found that this lowered systolic blood pressure by an average of 7 percent and diastolic blood pressure by an average of 4.6 percent—thanks to the high levels of potassium in orange juice.
You probably know that eating too much salt can raise blood pressure, but most people aren’t aware of the benefits of potassium, which counters sodium’s ill effects. Most don’t get enough of this mineral.According to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, people with hypertension may especially benefit from upping the amount of potassium in their diet. Adults should get at least 4,700 milligrams a day. A few good sources: bananas (422 milligrams each), a baked potato with skin (738 milligrams), orange juice (496 milligrams per cup), and nonfat or low-fat yogurt (531–579 milligrams per 8 ounces).

Sleep with earplugs in  tonight.
Studies suggest that being exposed to noise while you're sleeping may increase your blood pressure as well as your heart rate, so block out any noise.