Dietary changes:

1) Reduce sodium. Cultures that don't use sodium don't have high blood pressure and
the ones that use the most sodium (i.e. Japan) have the highest. Easily said, but hard to
do.

2) Reduce simple carbs. Carbs, especially simple carbs, cause you to retain water.
Similar effect to sodium except you can reverse it faster.

3) Eat less. Up to a certain point, getting thinner will reduce your blood pressure. Bigger
mass = bigger body to pump things through = higher blood pressure.

Generally, it's the boring diet that we know works but few of us do - eat more vegetables, less processed food, etc., etc. Slightly more controversially, many people
have found that eggs help them reduce their blood pressure and long term diet studies
seem to confirm this very surprising finding.

Alcohol:

Different people's blood pressure responds differently to alcohol! Heavy drinking is
always bad for blood pressure, but light drinking might not be. This could mean 1-2
drinks for some people or 3-4 drinks for others. I've found no more than 1-2 drinks 3-4
times per week doesn't seem to impact my blood pressure and that this is a reasonable
standard for others.

Exercise:

1) **lift weights or do other resistance training 1-2 times/week. Yes, it is said that
cardio is king, but in my experience a weight and/or circuit workout at higher intensity
has the most immediate and significant effect on reducing blood pressure.

2) Do cardiovascular exercise that you enjoy. This is for all other days of the week that
you are not lifting weights. Yoga and walking are fine but the bulk of this exercise should
be more challenging (walking on hills, swimming, etc.). Forget 3 times per week - make
exercise part of your daily ritual.

Lifestyle:

1) Sleep more. To test this one, take your blood pressure after a good night's sleep and
then take it after a bad night's sleep. 'nuff said, and one of the most underrated factors
impacting your blood pressure. Sleep and blood pressure are integrally related - if you
have high blood pressure it could impact your sleep, or your bad sleep could impact your
blood pressure. Treat the source and the other will fall in line quickly.

2) Extend your exhales by 2-3 seconds. Do this ten minutes a day and you could bring
your blood pressure in line. There are various devices for doing this, the best is probably
Respirate which has you to sit and do it for 5-15 minutes per day. Extremely relaxing
and dilates the blood vessels. Similar in impact to meditation described below.

3) Meditate, or practice progressive relaxation. Too many of us are in fifth gear too much
of the time. TV doesn't count. Find a way to break the stress cycle at a core level.
Meditation probably the most effective of these three.

4) Maintain a positive attitude. Smile more.

Supplements:

Many supplements claim to impact blood pressure, in my experience the following work:

1) Hawthorn root

2) Chai Hu Gui Zhi Tang

3) Ding Xin Wan

The latter two are generally good for relaxation.

The following do not work but are often claimed to:

1) Valerian

2) Fish oil

3) Coenzyme Q10

4) Niacin

You could try them but they didn't work for me. Fish oil (especially krill oil) has other
beneficial effects so I still take it.

Other:

Acupuncture, massage, hypnosis, etc. might help. They haven't for me.

The bottom line: blood pressure is really important to bring under control, and hopefully
a combination of the above will work for you.

Full story: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-natural-ways-to-reduce-high-blood-pressure

Mike Dippel

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