How to Lower Blood Pressure Naturally

High blood pressure typically has no symptoms, but it comes with significant health risks. Treatment may include medication and usually also involves using natural ways to lower blood pressure.

Lola Ojutalayo, MD, a Mass General Brigham interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab and the Cardiac Rehabilitation Program at Salem Hospital, explains the risks of high blood pressure and ways to lower it naturally through lifestyle changes.

Why high blood pressure is unhealthy

“Blood pressure significantly impacts your overall cardiovascular health,” says Dr. Ojutalayo. “High blood pressure increases the force of your blood through your arteries, which can lead to organ damage.”

High blood pressure (hypertension) significantly increases your risk of:

• Heart attack
• Heart failure
• Stroke
• Vision loss
• Kidney disease

“It’s very important to measure blood pressure regularly and more frequently if you have high blood pressure,” says Dr. Ojutalayo.

Can you lower blood pressure without medication?

“Certain lifestyle changes can certainly improve your blood pressure,” says Dr. Ojutalayo. “If you have mildly elevated blood pressure, the initial goal is to get back to a healthy range with lifestyle changes before you move on to trying medication.” 

Blood pressure measurements include two numbers:

• Systolic (the first or top number): The pressure against the walls of your arteries when your heart beats 
• Diastolic (the second or bottom number): The pressure against the walls of your arteries when your heart relaxes between heart beats

Typical blood pressure readings fall into these categories:

• Normal: Systolic is less than 120, and diastolic is less than 80
• Mildly elevated: Systolic is between 120 and 129, and diastolic is less than 80
• Stage 1 high blood pressure: Systolic is between 130 and 139, and diastolic is between 80 and 89
• Stage 2 high blood pressure: Systolic is 140 or higher, and diastolic is 90 or higher

No matter what high blood pressure category you’re in — mild, stage 1, or stage 2 — lifestyle changes are essential. They’re beneficial even if you’re already on blood pressure medication.

Natural ways to lower blood pressure

Making lifestyle changes can lower your systolic blood pressure anywhere from five to ten points, says Dr. Ojutalayo. Even this small reduction may eliminate the need for blood pressure medication or lower your dose, depending on the severity of hypertensive disease.

Here are Dr. Ojutalayo’s recommendations for natural ways to lower your blood pressure:

Get to a healthy weight

If you’re not already at a healthy weight, losing weight can positively impact your blood pressure. Extra weight or obesity can increase blood pressure due to:

• Changes in how your body handles excess fluid, which can increase blood pressure
• Excess weight, which creates extra pressure on your organs and blood vessels
• More blood vessels in your body
• Sleep apnea, a condition that disrupts your breathing while you’re asleep

“Having excess weight increases your risk of sleep apnea, which can cause high blood pressure,” says Dr. Ojutalayo. “Being at a healthy weight not only reduces your risk of sleep apnea and high blood pressure but also improves your overall cardiovascular health.”

Reduce salt

Sodium, which is a component of salt, has a direct effect on your blood pressure. “Increased sodium in the bloodstream causes you to retain fluid in your blood vessels,” says Dr. Ojutalayo. “More fluid volume in your vessels increases the pressure in them, leading to high blood pressure.”

Reducing the amount of salt you eat allows your body to maintain a normal amount of fluid in your arteries. Dr. Ojutalayo recommends people with high blood pressure limit their sodium to not more than 1,500 milligrams daily. Food labels show the amount of sodium in a serving or package of food, helping you keep track.

Follow a heart-healthy diet

The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) is a way of eating that benefits your cardiovascular health — including blood pressure — and allows plenty of flexibility in what you eat. Following DASH still allows you to eat many foods you love while helping to reduce your blood pressure. 

The DASH plan recommends eating mostly:

• Fruits and vegetables 
• Fat-free or low-fat dairy products
• Fish and poultry
• Whole grains
• Beans and nuts

The DASH plan recommends limiting:

• Fatty meats
• Full-fat dairy products
• Red meat
• Salt
• Sugary drinks and foods
• Tropical oils such as coconut and palm

Get regular exercise

“Exercise can be very helpful for blood pressure, and it goes hand-in-hand with maintaining a healthy weight,” says Dr. Ojutalayo. She recommends getting:

• At least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week, or
• At least 75 minutes of high-intensity activity per week

The intensity level depends on your overall fitness. For some people, walking is a moderate or even high-intensity activity. Regardless of your fitness level, walking is great for heart health.

Quit smoking and reduce or eliminate alcohol

Smoking and drinking alcohol each raise your risk of high blood pressure. If you’re thinking about quitting smoking, your provider can recommend resources to help.

Quitting or reducing alcohol also lowers your risk of high blood pressure. “The American Heart Association recommends no more than one alcoholic drink per day for women or two per day for men,” says Dr. Ojutalayo. One drink is a 12-ounce beer or a five-ounce glass of wine.

Reduce stress

“Reducing stress certainly helps with blood pressure,” says Dr. Ojutalayo. This is because stress may raise your blood pressure both in the moment and over time if you have long-term (chronic) stress.

Any type of exercise can reduce stress. Meditation, breathing exercises, and other relaxation techniques also help with stress and high blood pressure.

Can you use lifestyle changes to go off blood pressure medication?

“Coming off blood pressure medication by using lifestyle changes may be a possibility, but this depends on the cause and severity of the condition. This should always be discussed with your healthcare provider,” says Dr. Ojutalayo. 

Regardless, healthy lifestyle changes can benefit your blood pressure, improve your cardiovascular health, and lower your risk of many chronic diseases.