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Hearing the news that your blood pressure is too high can be concerning. Your first thought might be that you need medication – and that might be your doctor’s first suggestion, too. But in some cases, seniors can reduce high blood pressure with lifestyle changes, which can help in avoiding medication.
According to the American College of Cardiology, about 70% of adults over the age of 65 are diagnosed with hypertension.1 The American Journal of Hypertension says about 94% of seniors and elderly adults diagnosed with hypertension after the age of 65 use medications to control the condition, and 96% of those over the age of 75 take prescription medications for it.2
It’s important to remember that even if the tips here don’t result in lower blood pressure, they will help make you healthier. That means your blood pressure medication could be much more effective. So even if you end up taking medication, these steps to better health will still benefit you in the long run.
Any significant lifestyle changes or adding a new medication to your list can be difficult to adjust to at first. That means you might face a few side effects as your body changes, including dizziness or weakness. These are strongly linked to a higher fall risk. Senior alert systems are a great way to ensure that in a fall or any other type of emergency, you can reach out right away and get the help you need, around the clock, no matter what.
Tips for Lowering Blood Pressure
Some of these tips are a bit tougher to implement than others, but all of them can make some difference. Pick one to try and incorporate it into your routine, and once that is firmly established and feels natural, add in another one. You might be surprised by how healthy you feel!
1. Get Exercise
This is at the top of the list for a reason. The World Health Organization recommends 150 minutes of moderate physical activity each week, which most people break up into manageable chunks of 30 minutes a day, five times a week. But you don’t have to keep a rigid schedule to achieve benefits from exercise. Simply moving around a little bit more can bring your blood pressure down by a few points.
But there’s even more good news when it comes to exercise. The American Journal of Hypertension reports that simply exercising as little as 30 minutes each week can have a measurable impact on your blood pressure readings. This is encouraging for those who might have mobility challenges and can’t exercise as vigorously as they used to.
Consider building exercise into your daily routine. Dance to music while you’re in the kitchen. Park your vehicle further away from the door of your favorite store so you have to get in more steps. Look into chair exercises and find some great ones to keep you moving while you watch television.
And as always, look to Alert1 to be your constant companion. If something goes wrong, the button alarm can be a lifesaver. Get an on-the-go model with GPS for even further protection.
2. Watch the Salt
Most Americans eat way too much salt. Even if you aren’t adding salt to your plate at every meal, you might still blow right past the guidelines set by the American Heart Association of no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium each day. Why? Because many packaged meals, restaurant foods, and heavily processed meats and similar items tend to have outrageous amounts of sodium.
But to make matters even more interesting, if you have high blood pressure, the AHA recommends having no more than 1,500 milligrams of salt each day.3
It might seem tough to pull this off, but if you lower the amount of salt in your diet to those recommended levels, your blood pressure numbers could decrease significantly.
To reach your goal, cut back on processed foods, like ready-made pizzas or sauces. Cooking at home instead of going to a restaurant can help you control the amount of sodium on your plate. And though you might miss the taste of salt at first, you could be surprised by just how flavorful foods can be with fresh herbs, spices, and strong flavors like lemon or lime juice.
3. Go for the DASH Diet
Speaking of foods, let’s talk about the fruits and veggies that doctors recommend you load up on each day. These can actually have a significant effect on your blood pressure levels. The DASH Diet stands for “Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension,” so the name alone tells you what to expect!
The meal plan calls for four to five servings of veggies and fruits per day, as well as six servings of whole grains and two to three servings of dairy per day. Look for foods that are processed as little as possible and thus contain less sodium. Even if you can’t meet the requirements for the DASH diet every day, a little bit here and there helps enormously with your overall health and could lower your blood pressure.
4. Improve Your Sleep Schedule
What in the world does sleep have to do with high blood pressure? It turns out that sleep can affect every part of your body, including your blood pressure. Getting less than seven hours of shut-eye each night is strongly tied to higher blood pressure, which is one reason why getting more sleep can create powerful changes for your body.
Try to get more sleep by creating a wind-down routine before bed, stop looking at screens an hour before bed (this includes your phone), and stick to a sleep schedule, even on weekends. And if you need a midday nap, go for it. Research shows that napping during the day can improve health, including your blood pressure numbers.
5. Know the Recommendations for Alcohol
Drinking alcohol can raise blood pressure, so it’s vitally important to stick to the recommendations if you are going to indulge – those recommendations are one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men. Keep in mind that one serving of alcohol is the equivalent of 12 ounces of beer, five ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of spirits. That’s probably less than you think, so measure out your libation.
Why does this matter so much? Studies have found that alcohol has a direct link to blood pressure. The more you drink, the higher your blood pressure goes. And if you are on medication for high blood pressure, the alcohol can interfere with it and make it less effective. If you really want to indulge, look to mocktails that taste very much like the real thing but don’t add any alcohol to the mix.
6. Probiotics Are Your Friend
Have you tried probiotics? These can be incredible supplements to maintain good digestion and the health of your immune system. But recent studies have found that probiotics can have a positive effect on blood pressure, too. This might be because of the healthy balance in your gut that probiotics help you maintain.
You can get probiotics by adding fermented foods to your diet, such as kimchi and kefir. But you can also take supplements. Studies found that those who took probiotic supplements for at least eight weeks saw a lowering of blood pressure and other health benefits.
Before you add any probiotics to your diet or take supplements to get more of the good stuff, talk to your doctor about whether they are right for you.
7. Work to Reduce Stress
As you might imagine, stress can push your blood pressure to higher levels, and not just in the short term. Though everyone who faces serious stress might have a spike in blood pressure for a time after the stressor hits, long-term stress is a whole different beast that can wreak havoc on every part of your body. Your blood pressure could go up and stay up.
Look for ways to alleviate stress as much as you can. Even if you can’t get out of a stressful situation, there are ways to ease the stress while dealing with that situation, such as meditation, breathing exercises, or prayer in your day-to-day life. Studies have found that those who focused strongly on these techniques could drop their blood pressure by several points.
If you are dealing with stress that feels impossible to break free of, it’s time to talk to your doctor and a professional counselor to get tips on how to handle the situation. But there are other steps you can take too, such as taking any medications exactly as directed, keeping up with your exercise program, reaching out to friends and family members, eating healthier, and using a mobile medical alert necklace with fall detection to keep you safer and provide peace of mind.
