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5 Ways to Lower Your Blood Pressure Without Medication

Try these tactics to help fight hypertension and bring your numbers down

Bonnin Studio / Getty Images Before David Hampshere, 55, started taking medication for high blood pressure, his numbers soared to an unhealthy 150/100 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). For comparison, a normal blood pressure should clock in below 120/80 mm Hg, according to the American Heart Association. But when Hampshere, a Florida-based real estate investor, lost 80 pounds over a period of nine months, his blood pressure dipped down to normal. With the extra weight gone — and a daily game of to keep it off — Hampshere’s doctor let him experiment with going off his blood pressure medication. And by Hampshere’s next exam, his doctor agreed the medicine wasn't needed anymore. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. More than 100 million Americans — or nearly half of U.S. adults — have high blood pressure (also called hypertension), which is a leading risk factor for . And while many are on medication to lower their blood pressure, some 30 million Americans out of that grand total have what’s known as stage 1 hypertension, for which blood pressure–lowering medication is not always recommended. (Stage 1 is when the systolic, or upper, number on a is between 130 and 139 mm Hg and the diastolic, or bottom, number is between 80 and 89 mm Hg.) Yet if left untreated, hypertension can lead to heart attacks, strokes, heart failure and kidney disease, particularly among men and people of color, says Kendra Sims, an epidemiologist at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine. Lifestyle tweaks like losing weight, , exercising, limiting alcohol and lowering stress are all effective ways to wrangle hypertension, research shows. Here are a few more unexpected strategies, though it’s important to note that if you’re on blood pressure medication, you should never stop taking it without consulting your doctor.

1 Train your breathing muscles

High-intensity breathing using a device that creates resistance when you inhale led to lower blood pressure readings over time, according to a from the University of Colorado in Boulder. “We found that 30 resisted inhales per day, five to seven days a week for six weeks, lowered systolic blood pressure by 9 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure by 4 mm Hg,” explained study coauthor Daniel Craighead, an assistant research professor in the university’s Integrative Physiology of Aging Laboratory. The effect is comparable to that of aerobic exercise, such as walking or running — though you’ll want to continue your regular workouts for other health benefits. And this breath training can lower blood pressure as effectively as hypertension medications, researchers have noted. “If that’s maintained over the long term, that’s enough to decrease the risk for cardiovascular disease by 25 percent,” Craighead says. High-intensity breathing seems to work by promoting the production of nitric oxide, a heart-helpful compound in the cells that line blood vessel walls, Craighead says. Regular breathing workouts help to expand blood vessels, improving blood flow. Participants in the study used a device called PowerBreathe, but there are similar devices on the market to get your diaphragm and other breathing muscles in better shape — and to possibly lower your blood pressure.

2 Take 8 200 steps a day

You may have heard that you need to get in 10,000 steps a day for good health, but it looks like 8,200 may be the magic number, according to from Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. The study, which included more than 6,000 people with a median age of 57, used electronic health records as well as data from their Fitbit devices to reach this conclusion. (DASH) diet. Researchers from UCSF analyzed the effects of various lifestyle approaches to lowering hypertension and estimated that widespread adoption of the diet — which emphasizes fruits and vegetables, lean protein and low sodium — could prevent 26,000 heart-related events and close to 3,000 deaths. Health & Wellness Access AARP health Smart Guides, articles and special content See more Health & Wellness offers > The researchers only focused on people with stage 1 hypertension, notes Sims, a coauthor , published in the journal Hypertension. “The benefits are probably bigger because if we all followed the diet, we would stop people from even being in the higher risk groups,” she adds. Similar to the , the DASH eating plan calls for: 6 to 8 servings of grains a day4 to 5 servings of fruit a day4 to 5 servings of vegetables a day6 or fewer 1-ounce servings of lean meat, poultry or fish a day2 to 3 servings of low-fat dairy a day4 to 5 weekly servings of nuts, beans or seedsSparing amounts of salt, sugar and fat And while it may take time to get used to all the extra fiber, the results speak for themselves.

4 Take up tai chi

Recent Chinese research this gentle exercise, which involves slow, flowing motions and deep breathing, can improve hypertension. The study of 208 people with somewhat elevated blood pressure found that those who practiced tai chi for three months significantly decreased their blood pressure, compared to those who didn’t. How does it work? Like any form of aerobic exercise, tai chi is intrinsically healthy for your heart and blood vessels. Plus, it’s an excellent form of stress relief and may even pack some .

5 Just stretch

When researchers at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada studied the effect of walking on older adults with hypertension, they found that a control group of people assigned to do simple actually had lower blood pressure readings than those who walked. “We stumbled into this by accident,” says study author Philip Chilibeck, professor of kinesiology at the University of Saskatchewan. That finding led to a comparing the two activities. The result: Five days a week of stretching for 30 minutes led to greater improvements in blood pressure than five days of 30-minute walks. Stretching seems to literally stretch a person’s blood vessels, which reduces arterial stiffness, lowering blood pressure, Chilibeck says. He recommends gently stretching the big muscles in the lower body as follows: AARP Membership — $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Beth Howard is a North Carolina–based health and lifestyle writer. She has written for dozens of publications, including U.S. News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Prevention, Better Homes & Gardens and Reader’s Digest. MORE FROM AARP AARP NEWSLETTERS %{ newsLetterPromoText }% %{ description }% Subscribe AARP VALUE & MEMBER BENEFITS See more Health & Wellness offers > See more Restaurants offers > See more Health & Wellness offers > See more Health & Wellness offers > SAVE MONEY WITH THESE LIMITED-TIME OFFERS