Small changes can make a big difference in your blood pressure numbers.
If you suddenly find yourself with high blood pressure (hypertension) under the new guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, you might be wondering what to do. The guidelines lowered the definition for high blood pressure to 130/80 from 140/90 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), meaning more people now meet the criteria for stage 1 hypertension.
While you shouldn't shrug off the change, there's also no need to panic. "Obviously, nothing happened overnight inside a woman's body or to her health with the release of the guidelines," says Dr. Naomi Fisher, director of hypertension service and hypertension innovation at the Brigham and Women's Hospital Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Hypertension, and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
The change, however, should spur you to take your blood pressure seriously. "These guidelines have been long anticipated and are very welcome by most hypertension experts. They may seem drastic, but in putting the knowledge we've gained from large trials into clinical practice, they will help thousands of people," says Dr. Fisher.
Why does hypertension matter?
If you are in this 130/80 range, reducing your blood pressure can help protect you from heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, eye disease, and even cognitive decline. The goal of the new guidelines is to encourage you to treat your high blood pressure seriously and to take action to bring it down, primarily using lifestyle interventions. "It is well documented that lifestyle changes can lower blood pressure as much as pills can, and sometimes even more," says Dr. Fisher.
Making those changes can be challenging. More than one woman has woken up in the morning committed to healthy eating only to be derailed by a plate of cookies on a table in the office or a dinner out with friends.
How lower your blood pressure with small changes
You don't have to embark on a major life overhaul to make a difference in your blood pressure. Here are six simple tips for actions you can take to help get your blood pressure back into the normal range.
1. Lose weight
By far the most effective means of reducing elevated blood pressure is to lose weight, says Fisher. And it doesn't require major weight loss to make a difference. Even losing as little as 10 pounds can lower your blood pressure.
2. Read labels
Americans eat far too much dietary sodium, up to three times the recommended total amount, which is 1,500 milligrams (mg) daily for individuals with high blood pressure, says Dr. Fisher. It doesn't take much sodium to reach that 1,500-mg daily cap — just 3/4 of a teaspoon of salt. There's half of that amount of sodium in one Egg McMuffin breakfast sandwich. Weed out high-sodium foods by reading labels carefully. "It is very difficult to lower dietary sodium without reading labels, unless you prepare all of your own food," says Dr. Fisher. Beware in particular of what the American Heart Association has dubbed the "salty six," common foods where high amounts of sodium may be lurking:
- breads and rolls
- cold cuts and cured meats
- pizza
- poultry
- soup
- sandwiches.
3. Get moving
It doesn't take much exercise to make a difference in your health. Aim for a half-hour at least five days a week. "Make sure you're doing something you love, or it won't stick," says Fisher. "For some that means dancing; for others, biking or taking brisk walks with a friend." Even everyday activities such as gardening can help.
4. Pump some iron
"Add some weightlifting to your exercise regimen to help lose weight and stay fit. Women lose muscle mass steadily as we age, and weightlifting is an often-overlooked part of an exercise plan for most women," says Fisher.
5. Limit alcohol to one drink per day
Drinking too much, too often, can increase your blood pressure, so practice moderation.
6. Relieve stress with daily meditation or deep breathing sessions
Stress hormones constrict your blood vessels and can lead to temporary spikes in blood pressure. In addition, over time, stress can trigger unhealthy habits that put your cardiovascular health at risk. These might include overeating, poor sleep, and misusing drugs and alcohol. For all these reasons, reducing stress should be a priority if you're looking to lower your blood pressure.
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By American Heart Association News
Please note: This article was published more than two years ago, so some information may be outdated. If you have questions about your health, always contact a health care professional.
If you have high blood pressure, chances are you've been told to cut back on salt. You might even be taking medication. These are good strategies, as nearly half of all adults in the United States work to keep hypertension at bay.
What if there were an easier way to make sure nearly everyone took at least one small step toward reducing their blood pressure – every time they drank a glass of water?
A new study, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association, suggests adding calcium and magnesium to drinking water potentially could help lower blood pressure levels across the population. The strategy stems from research that looked at the impact of drinking water sources on the health of people in an area of coastal Bangladesh affected by seawater intrusion. The residents relied upon pond water or groundwater as their main water source.
The study compared blood pressure levels among people who drank salinated water with those who drank freshwater. Even though sodium is known to increase blood pressure levels, study participants who drank the salinated water had lower blood pressure. That wasn't because of the sodium, the researchers believe, but rather because of two other minerals in the water – calcium and magnesium.
"Calcium and magnesium are protective; they decrease blood pressure," said Abu Mohammed Naser, a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta and lead author of the study. "What we suspect is happening is that they outweigh the harmful effects of sodium on blood pressure."
That's good news for people in Bangladesh, who lack alternative sources of drinking water, unlike people in more developed countries, where treatment plants desalinate contaminated groundwater.
But the findings also could have implications for any population struggling to reduce hypertension, which is the leading preventable cause of premature death worldwide, affecting more than 1.3 billion people globally and 116.4 million Americans.
The analysis pooled data from two studies following participants in several communities in coastal Bangladesh, during both dry and monsoon seasons when the amount of salinity in the water fluctuated.
It found those who drank mildly salinated water had average systolic blood pressure levels 1.55 mmHg lower than those who drank freshwater. Their average diastolic blood pressure levels were 1.26 mmHg lower. Systolic is the top number in the blood pressure measurement and diastolic is the bottom number.
By testing urine samples, researchers determined those with lower blood pressure also had higher levels of calcium and magnesium in their system, which they attributed to drinking the salinated water.
The reduction in blood pressure was small but significant, and worthy of further exploration, said Dr. Robert M. Carey, a professor of medicine at the University of Virginia who wasn't involved in the new study. He helped write the most recent blood pressure guidelines for the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.
"I think it's pretty clear from many different studies that a small reduction in blood pressure, done consistently, can have a major impact in reducing cardiovascular disease and stroke," he said.
Carey cautioned the Bangladesh results would need to be replicated in a clinical setting to confirm that drinking water fortified with calcium and magnesium was instrumental in lowering blood pressure.
If those results are confirmed, "you would be able to impact blood pressure levels in the average population," he said. "That's different from the approach we have taken historically, where we wait until someone becomes hypertensive and then we introduce lifestyle modifications, and then add drug therapy to help individuals lower their blood pressure. I think we need to do both."
Numerous studies have shown both calcium and magnesium are important for maintaining good blood pressure. The use of vitamin and mineral supplements to prevent chronic diseases is not recommended, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. In fact, the AHA recommends people get their vitamins and minerals directly from a nutrition-packed diet.
But most Americans fail to get the recommended daily allowance through the foods they eat.
Naser said this is partly because people aren't eating enough foods rich in these minerals. But he also attributes it to lower levels of nutrients overall in the soil from over-farming and climate change-influenced rainfall patterns.
Adding these minerals to drinking water could be an effective way of counteracting some of that, Naser said. And water also could make a better delivery system for some minerals than food because "chemicals in the food can interfere with absorption. Bioavailability is low. If you can supplement or add calcium and magnesium to water, there is a high chance that they will be absorbed better."
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