Normal blood pressure is defined as less than 120mmHg systolic blood pressure and less than 80mmHg diastolic blood pressure. To ensure that your blood pressure measurements are accurate, it is best that you have your blood pressure measured at rest (in other words, in a calm and relaxed state) by a health care professional on at least three different occasions.

Treatment of high blood pressure, or hypertension, is important, as hypertension is a major risk factor for heart attacks, stroke, kidney damage, and heart failure, as well as many other diseases; in fact, over 7 million premature deaths worldwide are attributable to hypertension.

So high blood pressure must be lowered, or you run a risk to your health. But many medications that treat high blood pressure have serious and dangerous side effects, from fainting to kidney failure. The Internet abounds with expensive “natural” remedies for hypertension—are these a waste of time, or a reasonable alternative?

Let’s look at what works, what doesn’t, and what makes sense. For the purposes of this article “natural” will encompass all therapies that are not “pharmacological”; a natural remedy here means you don’t need a prescription for it.

1. Lose weight and get active: You’ve heard it before, because it’s true! Blood pressure can be lowered by 4–9mmHg by regular physical activity, such as a 30 minute brisk walk, 5 days a week. This drop may not be enough to eliminate a need for medication to further control your blood pressure but it may help decrease your medication dosage.

2. Quit smoking: You’ve probably heard this one too. The risk of cardiovascular disease in people who smoke less than 4 cigarettes per day is 3 times higher than non smokers. So “cutting down” will just not do. In the US, smoking is accountable for 140,000 premature deaths per year.

3. Decrease sodium intake and increase potassium, calcium, and magnesium intake. Salt (sodium chloride) is known to raise blood pressure. Potassium, magnesium, and calcium are inversely correlated with blood pressure. Keep salt intake to less than 6g/day. Bananas, apple juice, and apricots are a good source of potassium, and magnesium is found in leafy greens and whole grains. It is important to remember that potassium and magnesium work together, so adding one to your diet is useless without the other.

4. Add a vitamin E and vitamin C supplement to your diet. The addition of these vitamins has been scientifically proven to decrease not only cardiovascular mortality (death), but also overall mortality from other diseases such as cancer.

5. Limit alcohol intake to no more than 24 oz of beer, 10 oz  of wine, or 2 oz of 100-proof hard alcohol per day.

 That’s it. These are the big 5. Of course, if you have other chronic conditions, such as diabetes or high cholesterol, then these too need to be addressed. For some people with moderately elevated blood pressure the above 5 suggestions may be enough to lower blood pressure to within the desired range. Note that there were no “magic pills” no “revolutionary cures”, and most importantly, no expensive “miracles”. Sorry. It’s just not that complicated.

Have you gotten your blood pressure under control without medications? 

How did you take control of your health?