Top 5 Important Lifestyle Changes for High Blood Pressure Control

1. Quit Smoking

Smoking has enormous impacts on health. Besides causing cancer and other diseases, smoking directly affects your blood pressure profile. Many of the chemicals in cigarette smoke damage the walls of arterioles, causing a decrease in the ability of these small blood vessels to relax, and increasing blood pressure.

This damage is reversible, but because full function has not been proven to return to these blood vessels, it's important to quit as soon as possible.

2. Control Your Weight

In addition to making existing high blood pressure worse, being overweight can contribute to the development of diabetes, which can cause kidney damage and further worsening of high blood pressure.

Studies have shown that even a 5% reduction in body weight is effective for decreasing blood pressure¹

3. Watch Salt Intake

Salt is a fiercely debated topic among high blood pressure researchers. While this debate is ongoing, there are two pieces of information you need to know

1. Salt can make high blood pressure worse
2. Too much salt can damage your heart

For these reasons, controlling your salt intake is an important step in managing your high blood pressure

4. Decrease Bad Fats in your Diet

"Bad fats" (unsaturated fats and trans fats) have a negative effect on both your heart and your blood vessels. Too much of them can damage these important organs and lead to problems like heart attack. Decreasing intake of these fats will also aid in weight loss strategies.

5. Exercise More

Exercise strengthens your heart, improves circulation and helps keep off extra pounds. Because even modest levels of weight loss offer great benefit in reducing high blood pressure, and because your heart responds well to small amounts of extra work, even a little exercise can go a long way.