Lower your blood pressure with these home remedies

As we age, the risk of high blood pressure or hypertension increases — partly due to structural changes in the arteries, causing rigidness and stiffness, and potentially due to other lifestyle choices and environmental factors.

Many external conditions can affect our likelihood of developing or worsening hypertension. Stress, diet and exercise (or lack thereof) are only a few that play a role in raising our blood pressure.

While it’s always wise to seek medical advice from a professional such as your GP, there are some home remedies you can apply to your lifestyle almost instantly to help control this issue.

Increase physical activity

Changing from a sedentary to more active lifestyle is a gradual process. Try to do at least 30 to 45 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity on most days of the week. Walking is a great activity to get you moving and is a wonderful stress reliever.

Reduce salt in your diet

To help reduce your salt intake, you can start avoiding packaged and processed foods that are high in salt, choosing options that contain less than 120mg sodium per 100g. Try to look at labels with ‘low salt’, ‘salt reduced’ or ‘no added salt’.

When cooking, you could also try to flavour meals with herbs and spices, instead of reaching straight for the salt mill.

Eat a healthy and balanced diet

Make sure you incorporate wholefoods in your diet, including vegetables, fruits, wholegrains, lean meat and poultry, fish and seafood, legumes, unsalted nuts and seeds. A healthy and balanced diet that’s low in salt can help you maintain a healthy weight.

If you have a nutritionist or dietician, consult them on ways you can augment your diet to lower blood pressure as well.

Cut down on alcohol

Different types of beer, wine and liquor have different amounts of alcohol, which you can enjoy responsibly, but moderation is key. Limit your alcohol intake to no more than 10 standard drinks a week.

Quit or limit smoking

One way to effectively manage your blood pressure is to reduce your tobacco or even quit smoking once and for all. One of the best and most effective ways to quit smoking is to put a plan in place from the start.

Get regular blood pressure checks

If your blood pressure sits within a healthy range, you don’t present other risk factors for cardiovascular disease and have no family history of high blood pressure, it’s still important to have it measured at least every two years. Blood pressure evaluations are quick, painless and by getting into the habit of regular tests, it could save problems later.

In cases where blood pressure is very high, or when these lifestyle changes do not reduce it to healthy levels, you should consider visiting your local GP for advice and treatment options to suit your specific needs.

IMPORTANT LEGAL INFO This article is of a general nature and FYI only, because it doesn’t take into account your personal health requirements or existing medical conditions. That means it’s not personalised health advice and shouldn’t be relied upon as if it is. Before making a health-related decision, you should work out if the info is appropriate for your situation and get professional medical advice.