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• Method 1 of 2: Part 1: Lowering your blood pressure by changing your diet
• Method 2 of 2: Part 2: Lower your blood pressure through changes in your lifestyle
• Tips
• Warnings

High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is a condition in which the pressure that the blood moves through the arteries is increased. High blood pressure can damage blood vessels, increasing the risk of heart attack, stroke or kidney failure. If you have high blood pressure, you can try to regulate it through an adjusted diet and lifestyle. If you cannot lower your blood pressure with these adjustments, medications may be necessary.

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Method 1 of 2: Part 1: Lowering your blood pressure by changing your diet

1. Familiarize yourself with the DASH diet. DASH stands for Diet Approach Stops Hypertension. It is a diet developed by doctors who treat people with high blood pressure. The DASH diet recommends eating 1600, 2600, or 3100 calorie servings of foods from a variety of categories, but especially grains, vegetables, and fruits. Some examples from the DASH diet are:
   • Eat seven or eight servings of whole grains a day. This can be brown bread, muesli, whole wheat pasta or brown rice.
   • Eat four to five servings of vegetables and four to five servings of fruit per day. You can eat some fruit juice, canned vegetables or cooked vegetables, but make sure you also eat raw vegetables.
   • Choose lean meats such as chicken and fish and limit this to two servings of 90 grams or less per day.
   • Eat less fat and oil. Limit fat and oil to 2 or 3 tablespoons per day, and cook in oil that is low in saturated fat. This can be rapeseed or olive oil. Also choose cold cuts or spreads on your bread that are not too fatty.
   • Eat something sweet up to five times a week. If you eat sugar, jam or other sweets, stick to 1 tablespoon at a time. Choose non-fat sweets and eat only a small amount.
   • Eat four or five servings of nuts or seeds every week. Serving size is about 40 grams for nuts, or a tablespoon for seeds.
2. Start changing your eating habits. Whether or not you want to follow the DASH diet, there are other small changes you can make in your life to lower your blood pressure. Here are some things you can change in and out of your kitchen or help you stick to your new regimen:
   
   
   • Keep a food diary. Write down everything you eat, no matter how insignificant or small it may seem. A food diary has two advantages: First, you can see if you are sticking to your resolutions. Second, it sheds more light on what and how much you eat, which can be very enlightening.
   • Only buy the things that are on your shopping list. Make a list before you go shopping. When you are in the supermarket, only buy what is on it. This helps to avoid those impulse purchases - healthy or not - that we all suffer from from time to time.
3. Put the brakes on salt. Salt has been associated with high blood pressure by scientists for years. Eating salt makes it more difficult for your kidneys to process water, causing water - and therefore pressure - to build up in your arteries. While you don't have to cut salt completely from your diet, it's a good idea to cut back. Here are some tips you can use:
   • Eat a maximum of 2300 mg of salt per day. Write in your food diary exactly how much salt you eat in a day, and make sure you stay below this amount.
   • Do not eat processed foods. Processed things like chips, fast food, and ready meals are often full of salt. Prefer to stick to meals that you make yourself.
   • Try to add as little salt to your food as possible. Even a little bit of salt will quickly get you to those 2300 mg. Replace it with herbs and spices to flavor your dishes.
4. Eat more potassium. Potassium can counteract the effect of salt on your kidneys and thus lower your blood pressure. While it is absolutely possible to take the recommended amount of potassium through a supplement, it is better to be absorbed through your diet. Potassium-rich products include bananas, tomatoes, lentils, dried apricots, salmon and carrot juice.
5. Don't panic if you make a mistake. It can be challenging to start following a diet like the DASH diet, especially if you are not used to it. There will probably be times when you consciously or unconsciously drop a stitch and eat a super salty meal, or something else that is absolutely not allowed according to DASH. And that doesn't matter. Don't punish yourself for that. Admit your mistake and immediately move on with full conviction, paying extra attention for the rest of the week. Eventually it gets easier and you get better and better at lowering your blood pressure through the DASH diet!

Method 2 of 2: Part 2: Lower your blood pressure through changes in your lifestyle

1. Make sure you are at a healthy weight so that you are less likely to have high blood pressure. Your blood pressure increases when you weigh more; In general, the lower your weight, the lower your blood pressure. Following a healthy diet, such as the DASH diet, will help you lose weight, but you should combine it with plenty of exercise to take full advantage of your body's ability to lose weight.
   • First, set a goal to lose 5 pounds. If you lose 5 kilos, your blood pressure will already decrease significantly.
   • Losing weight has the additional advantage that any medicines against high blood pressure work better.
   • Pay special attention to your waist. Men with a waist circumference of 100 cm or more have a greater risk of high blood pressure; Women with a waist of 89 cm or more are also at higher risk.
2. Exercise regularly. Be physically active to lower your blood pressure and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. If you have hypertension, exercise can lower your blood pressure.
   • Get moving for 30 to 60 minutes at least five times a week. You can engage in everyday activities such as cleaning the house, raking leaves, or mowing the lawn. You can also do some more structured activities such as swimming, jumping rope, running, or going to the gym.
   • Walk for at least 15 minutes a day. Find an excuse to walk instead of driving. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk to the supermarket instead of driving (especially if you are going to buy ice cream). Increase your walk 5 minutes each day until you walk 40 minutes each day in addition to your other movement.
3. Reduce your alcohol intake. Small amounts of alcohol (a glass of wine or a beer per day) can be healthy. But if you drink more of it, it loses the benefits. Try to drink no more than two glasses of alcohol per day. Too much alcohol increases blood pressure and the extra calories also make you gain weight.
   • Don't let it go boozing. Drinking 4 alcoholic drinks in a short time can have a disastrous effect on your blood pressure.
   • Reduce it slowly if you drink regularly. If you regularly drink too much, it is difficult to stop in one sitting. Reduce your daily amount of drinks - for example by taking one less drink every week - until you are below the limit of 2 per day.
4. Stop smoking. Smoking has a bad effect on your blood pressure. Find an excuse to quit in one fell swoop (although you don't really need an excuse), or slowly break down your addiction with the help of your doctor or friends.
5. Relax. Scientists are not yet sure if there is a direct link between stress and high blood pressure, or if it is because stress often leads to overeating, smoking or lethargy, which in turn can lead to high blood pressure. Either way, there is a connection, and you must avoid that connection.
   • Find stress stimuli. Identify stimuli or situations that lead to stress for you. If possible, avoid them. It often helps if you know that something leads to stress.
6. Reduce your caffeine consumption. Caffeine causes a temporary - but very high - spike in your blood pressure. While it's unclear why caffeine causes this, researchers do know that people who drink a lot of caffeine have, on average, higher blood pressure than people who don't. Caffeine is especially bad for your blood pressure if you are overweight or over 70.
7. Instead of medication, try meditation. In 1995 a study took place in which a group of men with high blood pressure was divided into two groups. One group tried transcendental meditation (TM), while the other group tried a technique to relax the muscles. Blood pressure was then measured in both groups. The study found that in the TM group, the blood pressure was significantly reduced, twice as much as in the other group: The systolic blood pressure decreased by more than 10 points and the diastolic blood pressure by more than 6 points.

Tips

• Limit the amount of salt you eat. Research has shown that your blood pressure decreases with consumption of 1500mg or less.

Warnings

• If you have high blood pressure, stop smoking. While smoking doesn't cause high blood pressure, it does damage your blood vessels and can harden your arteries. Smoking is bad for everyone, but especially for people with high blood pressure.