What helped you most in reducing blood pressure?

Increase of Potassium rich foods. Decrease in sodium.

losing weight I guess and lowering sodium intake

Losing weight and limiting sodium, for sure.

As many have said, losing weight and watching sodium. I try to be at or under 1500mg a day. My NP recommended the DASH diet.

All of the above and BEETROOT. It's amazing how it works. On one of my regular BP checks my BP had dropped considerably so I went through the things I had done differently that week. I realized I had eaten a lot of fresh beetroot that week. I researched and sure enough, it is known to reduce blood pressure. Try it. I roast them or grate them fresh. Delicious.

And try some relaxation techniques alongside the low sodium diet - meditation; yoga; Tai chi; guided relaxation - all can help with the stress contribution to your blood pressure.

formal relaxation (i.e. more than just sitting chilling) helps to calm down your autonomic responses - the fight or flight response that helps us deal with threats but aren't much help when the threat is stress. It's not the same as resting, sleeping or "relaxing" like sitting with a book.

You know that feeling you get in your chest when someone pops a balloon or you go to step off the pavement and a car wizzes past? That sudden constriction in your chest, you gasp, and fireworks go off in your head? That's the fight or flight response, and if it's something like a car it's useful because it sharpens your responses, your vision, readies your muscles, so you can leap out of the way or attack the threat.

But when the "threat" is things like bereavement, relationships, unhappiness, too many demands and so on, then the fight or flight response is unhelpful as you don't tend to need to run away or attack when confronted with those threats, so the build up can eventually cause you problems - like high blood pressure (among others).

There's all kinds of relaxation techniques - some will suit you better than others, so it's worth exploring them a bit. I started with yoga, and we used to always finish the sessions with relaxation and breathing exercises. You can join classes, or get the CDs. Guided relaxations can be deeply relaxing if that's what works for you. Something like Tai Chi would be better if you don't like to spend too much time in your own head and need something physical to focus on.

Good luck xxxx

High blood pressure is one of the reason why Im dieting, ive been given a period of grace to see if I can make lifestyle changes to reduce blood pressure before being put on medication. I dont drink or smoke, but I am overweight. Obviously losing weight is going to take time, but the 2 things which had an immediate effect were to keep my salt intake to under 6g a day and to switch to decaffinated tea and coffee. There are no guarantess that losing weight will bring blood pressure down, but im hoping it will make a further reduction. Walking everyday also helps, but stress is probably the worst culprit of them all, you may not be able to change your circumstances, but its imperative you change your response to stress.

All of the above and BEETROOT. It's amazing how it works. On one of my regular BP checks my BP had dropped considerably so I went through the things I had done differently that week. I realized I had eaten a lot of fresh beetroot that week. I researched and sure enough, it is known to reduce blood pressure. Try it. I roast them or grate them fresh. Delicious.

Thanks, I bought some beets today for another reason (its really cleans out my colon), but if it helps with my blood pressure I am all for it.

Eating Beet root or its juice intake really helps. I have seen it work on some of my friends that have tried it. Again too much juice can have a strong cleansing effect, so drink it in moderation.