How to lower your blood pressure without pills

According to a recent study, right diet — combined with a healthy lifestyle — can drastically reduce our chances of developing high blood pressure

 More than four among 10 middle-aged Brits have high blood pressure. The condition puts stress on the heart and blood vessels and is the UK's biggest silent killer, responsible for 60% of strokes and 40% of heart attacks. But a recent Finnish study found that the right diet and lifestyle could cut our chances of developing high blood pressure by up to twothirds. Worryingly, an estimated third of people with high blood pressure have no idea they have it. There may be no symptoms until disaster strikes. 
    Most doctors agree that you have high blood pressure if your level is consistently at or above 140mmHg/90mmHg (which you will hear referred to as just 140 over 90). 
    "A blood pressure of 135 over 85 may be 'normal', but someone with this reading is twice as likely to have a heart attack or stroke, as opposed to someone with a reading of 115 over 75," says Gareth Beevers of Blood Pressure UK. If your level is very high, you may need medication. But it's also great to know you can do plenty of things to help keep it down without pills. Read on... 
GET MOVING 
Exercise strengthens the heart — we pump more blood with less effort, thereby decreasing the force on our arteries. It also helps with shedding the pounds — which in itself helps slash blood pressure.You should aim for 30 minutes of activity daily. It should leave you warm and slightly out of breath — brisk walking, for example. If you can manage something more strenuous, that's great. But even easily achievable activities —walking to work instead of driving, for example — can reduce blood pressure, researchers at Finland's National Institute for Health and Welfare found. 
    You should take care while lifting heavy weights in the gym if your blood pressure is dangerously high, because this can cause it to temporarily increase to an even greater level. 
BE SALT SAVVY 
"The evidence that links salt to blood pressure is as strong as that linking cigarette smoking to cancer and heart disease," says Graham MacGregor, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Central London. 
    Simply put, salt draws in fluid, raising the volume and pressure of blood in your arteries. 
    Most of the salt we consume is not what we add to food, but what is already there in foods such as bread, sauces, breakfast cereals and ready-meals. 
    A useful guide when you're checking labels is that more than 1.5g salt per 100g is a lot, but less than 0.3mg per 100g is a little. 
GO FOR FRUITS AND VEGGIES 
All fruits and vegetables are high in blood pressurelowering substances, such as potassium, magnesium and fibre. You will benefit from eating more of them, whatever your starting point. 
    Five-a-day is great (aim for handful-sized portions), but in the US, the dietary guidelines for stopping hypertension recommend even more — eight portions split equally between fruit and vegetables. 
CURB THE BOOZE 
    "Drinking too much will raise blood pressure over time," says Gareth Beever. 
    Heavy drinking may affect the function of the muscles within the blood vessels, causing them to constrict. Keeping to the recommended limits of no more that 2-3 units a day (for example, a 175ml glass of wine), with preferably an alcohol-free day or two each week, is what's needed to help keep your rate at a healthy level. 
GO FOR WHOLEGRAIN 
Swapping a refined grain cereal for a wholegrain oat one helped people reduce their blood pressure readings and allowed some to reduce or quit their medication, says a study in the 
Journal of Family Practice. 
Go for wholemeal bread and porridge, wholegrain breakfast cereals, brown rice and wholewheat pasta. 
    Daily Mirror 
GO FOR PURPLE 
"Purple-red fruits and vegetables — blackcurrants, raspberries, aubergines, blood oranges, blueberries and beetroot — seem to have blood pressure benefits," says dietician Dr Sarah Schenker. It may be because the anthocyanins they contain increase the output of nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels and improves blood flow. Beetroot contains dietary nitrates, which have an even more potent effect on blood vessels. 
MODERATE CAFFEINE CONSUMPTION IS FINE 
    Low-fat dairy and soya protein have blood pressure-lowering effects when they replace carbohydrates in the diet, according to recent research by Tulane University in New Orleans. 
    If you want to have your dairy in the form of a large skinny latte, that's fine. Dr Schenker says: "For regular coffee drinkers, moderate caffeine consumption is unlikely to raise blood pressure." 
    In fact, four cups of coffee a day is fine, according to the NHS Choices website. But do take care if you only consume caffeine occasionally, because it can cause a temporary hike in blood pressure when you're not used to it.

A third of people with high blood pressure don't know they have it