What are some lifestyle changes that can help reduce high blood pressure?

20 comments ↓

#1 Danielle on 06.13.09 at 1:14 pm

cheerios
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#2 sammi on 06.13.09 at 1:40 pm

walking and a stable life with less stress
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#3 peeps on 06.13.09 at 2:00 pm

Healthy Diet, Exercise, and Not Smoking are a few big things you can do that will help a lot!
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#4 Mike D. on 06.13.09 at 2:39 pm

My blood pressure went way down when I quit drinking alcohol.
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#5 Grist on 06.13.09 at 3:13 pm

Daily exercise is the most important, and the only one you can't NOT do.
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#6 shell on 06.13.09 at 3:31 pm

(1) Diet, (2) Exercise, (3) Pets, (4) A glass of red wine, (5) Laughter, (6) Time with family (if you get along), (7) Relaxation tactics (meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery), (8) Peaceful weekends away. Good luck!
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#7 Stoptheinvasion on 06.13.09 at 4:06 pm

Exercise, with doctors approval, medication, stress reduction, and quit smoking and drinking.
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#8 PikC on 06.13.09 at 4:30 pm

1 get a pet (dog or cat)
2 exercise regularly
3 eliminate as much saturated and trans fat from your diet as possible
4 be a "good" friend; socialise more
5 don't be a couch potato
6 take up gardening (if even just a few plants)
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#9 OR1234 on 06.13.09 at 5:15 pm

Eat less salt, and any other source of sodium.

Lose weight if you're overweight.

Get aerobic exercise. If you're young, start jogging. At least half and hour a day on average.

Meditate. Or any of the mental exercises to trigger the relaxation response.
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#10 crewchief1949 on 06.13.09 at 5:58 pm

I had high blood pressure. Stay at your correct weight for one. Try to be fairly active. Eat right. Garlic is a help when reducing blood pressure. Get proper sleep. Sleep is hard to figure out so I just let myself wake up when my body figured it was time to wake up. And dont fall back to sleep. It helped me immensley. I tried to get 8hrs of sleep but I woke up with headaches and even more tired than when I went to bed. With my body callin the shots I get about 6 hrs now and I feel great. My pressure is now on average 125/80
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#11 The Money Alchemit on 06.13.09 at 6:22 pm

A low chlesterol diet and being more active, lower high blood pressure.

http://www.predatormarketingsystem.com/bigbucks/
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#12 double_klicks on 06.13.09 at 6:42 pm

take salt out of your diet
stop smoking
lose weight
walk 30 minutes a day(60minutes if you can)
omega 3 (fish oil)
garlique tabs
meditation or yoga
eat more fish
less red meat
reduce stress
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#13 ragingfloods on 06.13.09 at 7:02 pm

If you do not like green tea, then meditation and yoga (for stress reduction) might be an alternative.

Regular exercise too.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_applications_and_clinical_studies_of_meditation

#14 sangreal on 06.13.09 at 7:14 pm

eat less meat, drink less alcohol, if you smoke or use any other tobacco products, stop useing them, if there are psychological factors get therapy.
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#15 jekin on 06.13.09 at 7:31 pm

Lose weight unless you are already skinny. I find my BP is directly proportional to weight above my ideal. Exercise or hard physical labor. Avoid stress. If that doesn't work, see a doctor, and ask for atenolol. It has the least side effects and calms you down, It is an adrenalin supressor. Kind of lowers anxiety.
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#16 kimballama on 06.13.09 at 7:53 pm

All of the answers below. Start taking better care of yourself and it will go down but you may need medication to help you. It is not the worse thing, I just started one today.
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#17 rsnakecharmerb on 06.13.09 at 8:09 pm

Less stress.
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#18 Husker41 on 06.13.09 at 8:43 pm

All those answers before this one look like good answers. However, if you need to drop that BP a lot, swiftly, you can do it with diet. Eat NOTHING but STEAMED BROWN RICE, water & one-a-day vitamins for a month. You'll be amazed.

It worked for me.
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A tip I got from a doctor.

#19 babydoll on 06.13.09 at 8:57 pm

Findings from multiple randomized clinical trials indicate that exercise lowers blood pressure as much as do some drugs. People with mild and moderately elevated blood pressure who exercise 30 to 60 minutes three to four days per week (walking, jogging, cycling, or a combination) might be able to significantly decrease their blood pressure
Ancient relaxation methods that include controlled breathing and gentle physical activity — such as yoga, Qigong, and Tai Chi — are beneficial.
People with mild hypertension who were taking CoQ10 experienced a significant drop in their blood pressure without appreciable side effects compared with those taking inactive placebo. In addition, CoQ10 supplement appears to reduce blood pressure by a different mechanism than major antihypertensive drugs.
Current evidence suggests that modest reductions of blood pressure might occur with significantly higher doses of omega-3 fatty acids.
It has been suggested that the diet supplement L-arginine might lower blood pressure. L-arginine is an amino acid that is a precursor to nitric oxide, a gas that relaxes blood vessels and lowers blood pressure. The few studies conducted to date were small and not well-controlled, and suggest that L-arginine might lower blood pressure for only a short period of time. Another amino acid, L-taurine, might also have blood pressure-lowering qualities.

Talk to your doctor before starting any medicine, including these supplements
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http://www.clevelandclinic.org/health/health-info/docs/3800/3851.asp?index=12283

#20 Seeanna on 06.13.09 at 9:24 pm

Stop smoking and limit the intake of alcoholic beverages, avoid stress full situations, avoid too much salt.

Exercise, eat a healthy diet,drink lots of water, and get plenty of rest.
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