If you have read some of my other posts, you will know I tell it like it is.
Tricks to lower blood pressure instantly are few and far between. There are no magic longterm solutions.
The bad news is that there are no permanent quick fixes or shortcuts.
“I disagree with some online tricks to lower blood pressure instantly.
- Drink lemon water or green tea.
- Eat a banana, a handful of berries, or two blocks of dark chocolate.
Health is, unfortunately, not that simple.”
High BP is a chronic condition, which means years, not seconds, of management.
Tricks to lower blood pressure instantly that might work
Disclaimer: If your blood pressure is high, consult your doctor.
The only way to immediately bring heart rate and BP down is by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system.
The 3 tricks to lower blood pressure instantly described in the video below are short-lived and could be dangerous if they drop your BP too low. They might not work for certain causes of hypertension.
“Successful treatment requires long-term change. Now that I have your attention, this post will focus on the long-haul.”
Understanding BP treatment = Knowing the causes
What are the causes of high blood pressure?
- Idiopathic − A fancy term for no specific cause: bad luck. This accounts for most cases.
- Genetics − Blame your parents. Bad genes are unfortunate barriers; break them down with early healthy habits.
- Poor diet
- Being overweight
- Stress
- Caffeine and other stimulants
- Other diseases, for example, kidney, lung, or heart problems.
Also read: Understanding blood pressure readings – Blood Pressure Numbers By Age
Prevention and treatment tools
Most of the prevention tips are common sense and lifestyle-based.
“Change your lifestyle while you’re young. Make a wholesome diet and exercise, routine. Then it doesn’t feel like punishment. By doing this, you might delay hypertension or even prevent it.”
In summary, be healthy. This is vague, so focus on:
- Eat healthier
- Exercise more
- Lose weight
- Stop smoking
- Minimise stress
- Reduce caffeine intake
- Let’s look at each of these in more depth.
- Eat healthier
What can’t I eat?
Salt (sodium) ❌
This doesn’t only mean putting down the salt shaker.
Also, pay attention to ready-made meal labels and avoid fast food.
Inflammatory foods ❌
Certain foods such as sugar and highly processed carbs – which instantly break down into sugar – cause damage to blood vessels and promote weight gain.
Read my in-depth article, 6 Foods That Increase Inflammation And Tips To Prevent It
What can I eat?
A diagnosis of hypertension does not condemn you to a tasteless existence. I love this Healthline article for ideas on delicious food options that can help you reduce your BP.
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of South Africa also has some interesting artery-friendly recipes.
Potassium ✅
This element is important because:
It’s essential for blood vessel health.
- It enables their walls to relax, dilate, and decrease blood pressure.
- It also assists the body to excrete excess sodium (salt), which you already know increases BP. 1
Food sources of potassium are: 1,2
- Butter beans
- Tomato paste
- Dry peaches and apricots
- Baked potatoes with the skin on
- Avocado
- Swiss chard, spinach, beet greens and broccoli
L-arginine ✅
An amino acid that helps our blood vessel walls relax by producing nitric oxide. 3
According to Dr. Greger, eat the following:
- pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower seeds,
- squash and watermelon,
- peanuts and almonds, and
- broad/fava beans.
Exercise more
You need to make your heart fit with a form of exercise called cardio.
Cardio exercise makes your heart pump faster and increases blood flow into your arteries. This makes artery walls stretchy and decreases their resistance.
Wider arteries = decreased resistance = decreased pressure
Doing this and making your heart stronger makes it a more efficient pump.
Your resting heart rate slows down and reduces blood pressure.
Cleveland Clinic has some specific guidance on BP-specific exercises that you can try.
Also read: How much and how often is enough exercise?
Lose weight
Research shows that even a weight loss of 5 kg can significantly reduce your blood pressure by up to 10 mmHg. 4
This will come naturally by following the previous 2 prevention tools:
- Healthy diet
- Exercise
Stop smoking
We all know smoking harms you, but how does it increase blood pressure?
Short term damage
- Nicotine increases stress hormones like adrenalin. This temporarily spikes your heart rate and narrows blood vessels. Thus, BP is pushed up while smoking a cigarette.
Long term damage
- Substances in cigarette smoke are toxic and cause blood vessels to inflame and swell. As a result, they become narrow and less flexible. This causes the pressure to increase.
- The inflamed swollen surfaces become sticky. Bad cholesterol and platelets adhere, further narrowing the artery and increasing pressure.
Minimise stress
Anxiety and high-pressure situations put your body into a flight and fright response. Your adrenaline spikes, heart races, and blood pressure shoots up.
In my practice, this is a common cause of hypertension in young people.
Refer to my blogs on anxiety next week. Learn to recognize the symptoms and discover skills for managing this endemic condition.
Reduce caffeine intake
“Caffeine is becoming a crutch in the day and age of anxiety and increased work demands.
50% of my patients under the age of 30 are energy drink addicts.”
This has now become a standard question in my history of patient habits:
- Do you smoke?
- How much alcohol do you consume per day or week?
- Do you consume caffeine in the form of energy drinks, coffee, or Coca-Cola?
Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay
The younger generation is expected to do more in less time. This leads to stress, insomnia, and, as a result, exhaustion.
They turn to well-marketed energy drinks as a solution. They depend on them to survive in high-demand environments, to the detriment of their health.
Reduce alcohol intake
It is not fully understood how exactly excess alcohol increases blood pressure.
To learn more about the possible mechanisms involved, read this in-depth article. Another option is to take my word for it.
The fact is that it can.
Excess is defined as more than 2 units per day, which equates to 14 units per week.
This does not mean you can drink all 14 units on a Friday night. Binge drinking is especially damaging.
Also read: What about red wine? I heard it is good for you.
Medication
You’ve adjusted your lifestyle to the max, but unfortunately, your BP remains raised.
What now?
There are fantastic medication options available. The main classes are:
- ACE inhibitors
- ARBs
- Calcium channel blockers
- Diuretics
- Beta-blockers
Your doctor will decide what is best for you. However, medication has dose-dependent side effects.
“My take-home message is to get your blood pressure as low as possible with lifestyle interventions. By doing this, you will need less medication and have fewer annoying side effects.”
References
- Cleveland Clinic. (2022, January 27). How potassium can help lower blood pressure. Cleveland Clinic. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/potassium-lower-blood-pressure/
- Dietary Guidelines Executive 2015-2020 Summary – Health.gov. Health.gov. (2015, December). https://health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-10/DGA_Executive-Summary.pdf
- Abukhodair, A. W., Abukhudair, W., & Alqarni, M. S. (2021). The Effects of L-Arginine in Hypertensive Patients: A Literature Review. Cureus, 13(12), e20485. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.20485
- Harsha, D., & Bray, G. (n.d.). Weight loss and blood pressure control (pro) | hypertension. Retrieved April 8, 2023, from https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.107.094011 12 May 2008
