Take Charge of Your Blood Pressure with These At-Home Strategies

How to Manage Your Blood Pressure at Home

High blood pressure is not an uncommon condition. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost half of all Americans have hypertension.

While many people with high blood pressure should seek professional support from a clinician, there’s a lot you can do at home to help manage your blood pressure.

1. Get Enough Diet and Exercise

Eating a well-balanced diet is critical to giving our hearts the nutrients they need to function the way they’re supposed to. In particular, eating foods rich in potassium, calcium and magnesium and avoiding excess salt and saturated fats can help keep the heart and arteries in tip-top shape.

A good, heart-healthy diet should include the following:

• Leafy greens like spinach and kale
• Whole grains like oats and brown rice
• Healthy fats from avocadoes and nuts
• Lean proteins from poultry and fish

Regular exercise can also help lower blood pressure by strengthening the heart and reducing strain on the blood vessels. Activities that get your heart rate up (like dancing, bicycling, swimming and running) are all great for your long-term heart health.

2. Quit Smoking and Cut Back on Alcohol

As strong as our bodies are, they can also be quite delicate; regular consumption of tobacco and alcohol can have serious long-term effects on our heart health.

Alcohol releases a hormone that causes the blood vessels to constrict, increasing the amount of force needed to pump blood throughout our bodies. Smoking can have a stimulating effect on the heart, increasing our heart rate and leading to higher blood pressure, especially if you smoke regularly.

Quitting – or drastically reducing – consumption of tobacco and alcohol may reverse these processes and keep our hearts functioning the way they’re supposed to. Quitting might also have other health effects that benefit your cardiovascular system: Better diet, higher sleep quality and more consistent exercise routine can all result from cutting alcohol and tobacco.

Consider reaching out to your doctor if you need help quitting.

3. Bring Your Stress Levels Under Control

Anyone who’s dealt with stress knows the heart-pounding feeling that comes with it. It’s no secret, then, that chronic stress can have a negative effect on blood pressure. More than that, some of the common self-soothing techniques many of us employ aren’t so heart-healthy.

Finding healthy ways to cope with stress can make us better equipped to manage our body’s fight-or-flight response, helping us gain greater control over our blood pressure.

Consider giving the following stress management techniques a try:

• Mindfulness
• Journaling
• Going for a walk
• Breathing exercises
• Talking to a trusted friend or family member

Stress is a whole-body experience, and the lifestyle practices described above (diet and exercise, quitting tobacco and alcohol) can all also contribute to reduced stress and lower blood pressure.