3 Ways to Lower Your Blood Pressure for Improved Health
hen your doctor tells you it’s time to lower your blood pressure, you may be afraid that the only thing you can do is to take a prescription medication. While this may still be recommended, particularly at the start, there are actually a number of things you can do to naturally reduce your pressure levels.
The reason is that there are several natural functions of your body that will lower your blood pressure for you as long as you keep them up. It is a matter of sticking to certain healthy lifestyle changes. While you may not have been motivated enough to keep them up before, allow your risk of heart disease to drive you forward.
Moreover, you can also motivate yourself to naturally lower your blood pressure either to bring it down enough that you can reduce or cease the use of your medication, or you may be able to prevent yourself from having to use it in the first place.
If you want to reduce your blood pressure levels, consider taking the following steps with the guidance of your doctor:
1. Lose excess weight
If you are overweight or obese, then the most direct route to overcoming hypertension (high blood pressure) is to eat right and exercise to bring your body into your healthy weight range. This can be one of the most effective ongoing ways to keep your blood pressure where it should be and to avoid preventable problems.
2. Exercise most days of the week
A healthy body needs at least 30 minutes of exercise daily on nearly every day of the week. This should include primarily cardiovascular exercise, such as walking, jogging, running, cycling or swimming. It should be done to the degree that by the end of the half hour, your breathing has picked up, your heart rate has risen, and it is difficult to speak at a normal rate.
3. Eat a nutrient dense diet
Your diet will need to be focused primarily on fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean meats as well as reasonable amounts of healthy fats. Yes, you can have a treat now and again, but they should not be a regular part of every meal. Consider looking into the DASH Diet (which stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension). This diet has shown to be very helpful in supporting good heart health as well as proper weight management habits.
