There are 10 simple lifestyle changes that can reduce your blood pressure. Photo / 123RF
It is the often-overlooked stealth killer behind 10 million deaths a year globally - the cause of 60 per cent of all strokes and half of all heart disease. If you weigh yourself regularly, ask yourself - when did you last check your blood pressure?
And yet only a handful of us will reach the end of our lives without experiencing hypertension. At age 20 there is a 20 per cent chance of raised blood pressure, at 50, a 50 per cent chance and at 80, an 80 per cent chance. “If you haven’t got it now, you’re going to have it later,” says Professor Graham MacGregor, chair of Blood Pressure UK.
Salt, stress and sitting down; our unhealthy modern lifestyles are hard-wired to raise blood pressure.
An “ideal” blood pressure is usually thought to be between 90/60mmHg and 120/80mmHg. The target for over-80s is below 150/90mmHg (or 145/85mmHg if measured at home). If your blood pressure is between 120/80mmHg and 140/90mmHg, you could be at risk of developing high blood pressure, and should make lifestyle changes to get it under control.
“It’s the major killer and it’s about time we did something about it,” MacGregor says.
By making small changes to your life, you can start to limit your blood pressure levels. And there’s evidence that for those already taking blood pressure medication, lifestyle changes combined with the drugs make them much more effective.
Salt is the enemy of healthy blood pressure. It encourages your body to store water, excess water in your blood puts extra pressure on blood vessel walls and in turn raises your blood pressure, which can damage your arteries, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and coronary heart attack.
“Current guidelines suggest you have no more than 6g of salt per day, which equates to about a teaspoon,” says Dr Brian Fisher, a GP at health and wellbeing app Evergreen Life. But adults in England have about 8.4g of salt per day on average.
If you eat out a lot or buy processed foods, it can be hard to keep on top of your salt intake. Salt is commonly added to many foods, often as a preservative, and can also be found in sauces, salad dressings, sandwiches, processed meats and cheese, cereals and ready meals.
In fact, 75 per cent of our salt intake comes from processed food, with just 10 per cent from the table (the remaining 15 per cent occurs naturally in foods).
If you do reach for something processed, be sure to check the labels for the quantity of salt and sugar. Look at the figure for salt per 100g: high is more than 1.5g salt per 100g (or 0.6g sodium), low is 0.3g salt or less per 100g (or 0.1g sodium). Items with 400mg or more of sodium are high in salt.
Look out for terms like disodium phosphate and sodium diacetate in processed foods. Items such as breakfast cereals, canned soups, bread, pastries, pizzas, biscuits, cookies and cakes, processed meats such as sausages, bacon and ham, and sauces such as gravy, ketchup, mustard, brown sauce and soy sauce, can be high in salt.
Cooking from scratch can help you stay on top of your salt intake and also up your intake of healthy vegetables, which can help with weight loss. But instead of turning to salt and stock cubes, which are high in sodium, for flavour, try seasoning with spices like paprika, black pepper and garlic instead.
“If you do cook with salt, opt for pink Himalayan or sea salt – both of which have been indicated to have some health benefits as they contain dozens of beneficial minerals and trace elements like iron,” Dr Fisher says.
While you’re lowering your sodium intake, you may want to up your potassium. The more potassium you eat, the more sodium you lose through urine. Potassium also helps to ease tension in your blood vessel walls, which helps further lower blood pressure.
You can find potassium in foods such as tomato paste/purée, sweet potato, salmon, white beans, broccoli, spinach and other leafy greens, and (of course) bananas.
Recent studies have also shown that women benefit significantly more from potassium-rich diets than men. Professor Denis Kinane, founding scientist at Cignpost, says: “Potassium helps preserve heart health (significantly greater for women than men) by reducing the negative effect of salt in the diet. Consequently, it is key for heart and muscle health.”
Moderate aerobic activities will reduce the stiffness of your blood vessels so the blood can flow with ease, and this will restore your blood pressure to healthier levels without putting too much strain on your heart.
Activities that are good for lowering your blood pressure include brisk walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, tennis and dancing.
“They use the large muscle groups of your body through repetitive and rhythmic movements and require your breathing and heart rate to increase, which helps keep your heart, lungs and circulatory system healthy,” says Professor Kinane. A stronger heart can pump more blood with less effort. As a result, the force on the arteries decreases.
It doesn’t need to be formal exercise, though - digging in the garden can create the same benefits.
If you already have hypertension, avoid high-intensity activities such as sprinting or heavy lifting, as they raise your blood pressure very quickly and put too much strain on your heart and blood vessels.
Stress can cause temporary spikes in blood pressure. Therefore, it is not surprising that meditation has been found to prevent or reduce elevated blood pressure when used in conjunction with other lifestyle modifications like eating well and exercising.
“This benefit appears to be facilitated by nitric oxide, a molecule made in the body that (among other things) helps relax and dilate blood vessels, making it easier for the blood to flow freely, which leads to lower blood pressure,” says Professor Kinane.
As with other techniques to reduce blood pressure, you have to implement it into your lifestyle on a regular basis for it to be effective. Take five to 10 minutes out of your day to focus on breathing exercises.
Slow and deep breathing brings more oxygen into the body, nourishing the brain and the muscles. “It will cause your body to relax, decrease your heart rate and dilates blood vessels, reducing your overall blood pressure,” Kinane says.
Breathing exercises to try
Try taking six deep breaths within a 30-second period, repeating when needed. Focus on taking equal-length breaths through the nose, pausing at the top and bottom of each breath.
You can also try diaphragmatic breathing, also called “abdominal breathing”, which focuses on strengthening the diaphragm and allowing for more efficient breathing. This type of breathing slows the heartbeat and can lower or stabilise blood pressure.
How to breathe diaphragmatically
Over time, drinking too much alcohol can increase your blood pressure. Alcohol is also high in sugar, which can cause you to gain body fat, which can further increase your blood pressure.
If you do enjoy a drink, be sure to keep within the recommended weekly guidelines of 14 units or less per week. This is a safe amount that the UK government advises for adults, although it’s important to remember that the amount of alcohol required to raise your blood pressure will vary from person to person.
“A couple of glasses of wine a day is not a problem for blood pressure, more than that can put your blood pressure up,” says Professor MacGregor.
Using smaller wine glasses will encourage you to take your time and not overindulge.
Smoking may have a small effect on your blood pressure. But the main issue is that smoking with high blood pressure multiplies your risk of heart disease. “So stopping smoking is even more important if you have high blood pressure,” says Dr Fisher.
A recent study also found that people who vape experience “worrisome changes” in their blood pressure and heart rate immediately afterwards.
Cholesterol, says Professor MacGregor, is another big risk factor that kills people by narrowing the arteries, leading to a clot, which can reduce the blood supply. “It’s important to control the cholesterol (in your blood), which is down to your intake of saturated fats.”
There’s some research to suggest that omega 3 fatty acids and magnesium may be part of the puzzle that is hypertension. Whilst more research is needed to see just how big a part they play, it’s still recommended that your daily diet is rich in seeds, nuts and veg, along with omega-3-rich oily fish two to three times a week, as well as saying goodbye to refined carbs such as white pasta, white bread, and white rice, which can spike your blood sugar.
High levels of sugar in your blood can increase atherosclerosis. This is when there’s a build-up of fatty material inside your blood vessels, narrowing them. The narrower your blood vessels, the more pressure builds.
Preclinical studies have shown that short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) work to reduce high blood pressure and prevent the development of hypertension.
Dr Caitlin Hall, chief dietitian and head of clinical research at Myota fibre supplement, says that incorporating more prebiotic fibre into our diets can help in the production of SCFAs.
“Prebiotic fibre is broken down (fermented) by the ‘good’ bacteria in our gut, also known as our gut microbiome. This fermentation process leads to the production of SCFAs, molecules that are incredibly important for our physical and mental wellbeing,” Dr Hall says.
This is a type of fibre found abundantly in several common foods, with the best sources including parsnips, kale, chicory root, garlic, barley and pulses.
In addition, a large-scale human clinical trial revealed links between increased dietary fibre consumption and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.
If you own bathroom scales but not a blood pressure monitor, Professor MacGregor says it’s time to invest.
“Every family should have a blood pressure machine and know what their blood pressure is. There’s no harm in testing children as well. It is so frustrating to see people dying prematurely from strokes and heart attacks. We need to get the message across that everyone needs to know what their blood pressure is and get it measured.”
If you have any concerns about your blood pressure, you should go to your GP and get professional advice about what that reading means. Dr Fisher says: “If anyone gets a persistent high reading at home of either figure over 135/85 (or if taken in a clinical setting over 140/90), then they should get professional advice.”
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