11 Strategies To Lower Blood Pressure
A report from the famed Framingham Heart Study warns that middle-aged and older persons face a 90% chance of developing high blood pressure sometime in their lives. No small thing, since high blood pressure,while it causes no symptoms, boosts the risks of leading killers such as heart attack and stroke, as well as aneurysms, cognitive decline, and kidney failure.
So, if you have normal blood pressure, following these steps can help lower those 90% odds that your numbers will rise. If you already have high blood pressure, they'll help you control it, possibly with a lower dose of medication, or none at all. What follows is your to-do list.
Carry Less Excess
"When we're talking about preventing high blood pressure, by far the most important lifestyle factor to consider is weight," says Curtis Ellison, M.D., chief of preventive medicine and epidemiology at Boston University School of Medicine.
Among other things, obesity is associated with abnormalities in glucose and calcium metabolism and with certain hormonal changes that may be linked to high blood pressure, notes Ellison. "Almost everybody, if they lose a few pounds, is going to bring their blood pressure down," he says. In some cases, very few pounds will do the trick. In one study, people who lost an average of just 7.7 pounds and kept it off were half as likely to have high blood pressure as those who hadn't lost weight. The best way to lose weight? Exercise more, and eat less.
Sweat It
Exercise helps lower blood pressure in a number of ways. It helps you shed excess pounds and manage stress. Regular aerobic exercise also strengthens your heart so it can pump blood more efficiently. That, in turn, lowers your resting heart rate, which is helpful because a slower heart rate translates into lower blood pressure. Regular aerobic workouts also help make your blood vessels more flexible, so they give more when your heart pumps blood, and that also translates into lower pressure.
Prevention recommends 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity (such as walking, jogging, or cycling) at least 5 days a week.
"Moderate-intensity exercise appears to lower blood pressure as much as vigorous exercise," says Deborah Young, Ph.D., associate professor in the department of kinesiology at the University of Maryland.
Do the DASH
Incorporating little fat, cholesterol, red meat, or sweets, but lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat or fat-free dairy products, this diet takes its name from the comprehensive "Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension" study. The study followed more than 450 adults, about one-third of whom had high blood pressure, as they ate one of three diets: standard American fare, a similar diet that was higher in fruits and vegetables, and the DASH diet. While both the plan rich in fruits and vegetables and the DASH diet cut blood pressure, the DASH diet had the greatest effect, and after just 2 weeks.
Why does DASH work? "While the diet is rich in vitamins and minerals that have been linked to lower blood pressure, it's not these nutrients alone but the whole dietary package that works," explains Eva Obarzanek, Ph.D., a research nutritionist at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and a project officer for the DASH study. For more information, go to National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; www.nhlbi.nih.gov.
Shake Off Sodium
To get even better results, follow the~ DASH diet and cut back on sodium, Obarzanek suggests. A follow-up to the DASH study, called "DASH-Sodium," found that doing both lowered blood pressure more than following the diet alone. In the study, even people with normal blood pressure lowered their blood pressure when they cut back on sodium.
Certain groups of people - the elderly, African-Americans, and those with a family history of high blood pressure are more likely than others to have blood pressure that's particularly salt (or sodium) sensitive. But everyone should lower his sodium intake, says Obarzanek. How far? To 1,500 mg daily, about half the average American intake, she says. (Half a teaspoon of salt contains about 1,200 mg of sodium.)
Cutting sodium means more than going easy on the saltshaker, which contributes just 15% of the sodium in the typical American diet. In addition to seasoning the foods you cook with spices, herbs, lemon, and salt-free seasoning blends, watch for sodium in processed foods. Most of the sodium in your diet comes from processed foods, says Obarzanek.
Balance It with Potassium
The best formula for controlling blood pressure is to eat at least 1.5 times as much potassium as sodium, a new Australian study shows. Most of us do just the opposite. In 100 people -15% with and 85% without high blood pressure - a diet with a 1.5 – to - 1 ratio of potassium to sodium lowered systolic blood pressure (the top number) by 2.4 points in just 4 weeks.
To balance out a moderate - sodium diet, eat two or three servings of high - potassium fruit (apricots, peaches, nectarines, cantaloupes, honeydews, bananas) and four or five of almost any vegetable every day.
Choose Olive Oil
Olive oil lowered blood pressure in a study of 20,000 people by Harvard and University of Athens researchers. Those with healthy pressure averaged 3 ounces of olive oil a day. Blood pressure protection starts with just 1 ounce a day, the experts say.
Serve Fatty Fish
Northwestern University scientists analyzed eight studies, involving 200,575 people, and concluded that eating fatty fish (such as salmon, mackerel, and herring) just once a week cut the risk of clot-caused strokes by 13%, though it had no effect on strokes from burst blood vessels.
Flag Yourself at One or Two Drinks
According to a recent analysis of 15 studies, the less alcohol you drink, the lower your blood pressure will drop - to a point. A study of women at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital, for example, found that light drinking - defined as one-quarter to one-half a drink per day for a woman - may actually reduce blood pressure more than no drinks per day. One "drink" is 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of spirits.
Other studies have also found that moderate drinking - up to one drink a day for a woman, two for a man - can lower risks of heart disease. "High levels of alcohol are clearly detrimental," says Obarzanek. "But moderate alcohol is protective of the heart. If you are going to drink, drink moderately."
Stay Out of Cafe Nervosa
Scientists have long debated the effects of caffeine on blood pressure. Some studies have shown no effect, but a recent study at the Duke University Medical Center found that caffeine consumption of 500 mg - roughly three 8-ounce cups of coffee - increased blood pressure by 4 mm/Hg, and that effect lasted until bedtime. For reference, 8 ounces of drip coffee contains 100 to 125 mg; the same amount of tea, 50 mg; an equal quantity of cola, about 40 mg.
Caffeine can raise blood pressure by tightening blood vessels and by magnifying the effects of stress, says Jim Lane, Ph.D., associate research professor at Duke and the lead author of the study. "When you re under stress, your heart starts pumping a lot more blood, boosting blood pressure, and caffeine exaggerates that effect," he says. Can't live without your morning cup? Look for decaf versions.
Switch to Tea?
Australian researchers who studied 218 women found that for each 1-cup increase in tea drunk daily (up to 4 cups), systolic (top number) blood pressure dropped 2 points and diastolic (bottom number) pressure dropped 1 point.
Learn to Chill _
Meditation and other relaxation techniques such as yoga and tai chi can help lower blood pressure significantly, says Richard Liebowitz, M.D., medical director of the Duke Center for Integrative Medicine. In a study of 62 sedentary seniors, in fact, those who started doing tai chi saw their blood pressure drop nearly as much as those who began a moderate-intensity aerobic exercise program.
Relaxation techniques trigger what Herbert Benson, M.D., of Harvard Medical School, has dubbed the "relaxation response," a calming of the nervous system that can lower blood pressure and slow breathing rate.
While you can learn yoga and tai chi from videos, says David Shapiro, Ph.D., many people find it easier to learn from an instructor and regular classes. To find out more about yoga and how to select an instructor, contact the American Yoga Association, PO Box 19986, Sarasota, FL 34276, or visit www.americanyogaassociation.org. To find out more about tai chi, go to www. thetaichisite.com.
For more information on high blood pressure, visit the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at www.nhlbi.nih.gov.
What Is High Blood Pressure?
Your blood pressure readings - always two numbers, one over the other - gauge the force your circulating blood exerts against the walls of your blood vessels. Systolic pressure, the top number in a reading, indicates the pressure as your heart beats or contracts. The bottom number, your diastolic reading, indicates the pressure between contractions. You have high blood pressure when you have a systolic Blood pressure of 130 millimeters of mercury (mm/Hg) or higher and a diastolic blood pressure of 85 mm/Hg or higher, or 130/85. But most experts now agree that your optimal pressure is 120/80 or lower, as low as you can go without fainting when you stand up.
GOOD.NEWS, NO MATTER YOUR READINGS: Just a tiny drop in blood pressure, 2 mm/Hg, could reduce strokes by 14% and heart disease by 6%, potentially saving 70,000 lives a year.
