Has anyone lowered their blood pressure without drugs?

[beeyourself]

My BP is high. Lower and higher numbers both high (but not always at the same time).

How can I reduce it without taking pills?

Exercise/losing weight is a given

I'm vegetarian so can't give up red meat.

I rarely drink - if I do I drink red wine.

Anyone help?

Yes of course you can. You need to exercise more, reduce salt intake and lose weight if needed. All of those things will have a beneficial effect on your blood pressure.
The British Heart Foundation website have excellent advice on line on how lifestyle changes can make a real difference to your blood pressure, worth checking out.

Thank you - I was hoping there was. I have 3-6 months to try to get it down before the pressure will be on to take drugs (which is like to avoid if I can)

Have you got a home monitor? I found it really helped me to keep track of it (and as extra motivation to stick to the things I was doing to reduce it)

It was mostly weight loss for me tbh but I did cut down on salt as well

My Dr put me on blood pressure tablets they made me feel absolutely awful so I'm interested in this as well

Lose weight, exercise, cut down on sugar and salt, take up meditation.

This is all good as I need to lose weight anyway.

I've started meditation recently, does it make a difference?

Quote from research by the International Journal of Hypertension:

Meditation techniques appear to produce small yet meaningful reductions in blood pressure either as monotherapy or in conjunction with traditional pharmacotherapy. Transcendental meditation and mindfulness-based stress reduction may produce clinically significant reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Remember the limits for high blood pressure keep reducing. What was normal BP back in the day is now considered high. Obviously your choice but I can't get too bothered when I'm told my BP is high when it's 135/85. I just ignore it!

DH cut out caffeine completely and his blood pressure went way down.

Only if your high bp is due to lifestyle. If it's genetic like mine there's only medication to bring it down. Lifestyle changes will still help but not enough.

Joining thread because I need to get mine down too and would prefer to do it without drugs.

I exercise every single day, at least 20 - 30 minutes of HIIT, plus a brisk walk for at least 30 minutes, and a couple of runs a week.

I don't eat any added salt in my diet, and the food I do eat is usually made from scratch with no added salt, so I'm not eating processed high salt food. No meat and very little dairy.

I don't drink alcohol except for a glass or two of red wine at the weekend.

I'm also healthy BMI.

What else can I do to bring it down? They keep telling me to relax when they measure it at the doctors but I don't relax outside of the doctors so it's not a true measure anyway.

Beenandgone you could either get a home bp monitor or better still, you would need your GP to agree that you need to be fitted with a 24hr bp monitor. This was the only way for me to get lower readings as I was nervous in the Surgery and still somewhat anxious even when I took my own bp at home. Have you got high bp in the family?

Thanks oldmum There is high blood pressure in the family (sadly fatal), possibly caused by stress at work and/or poor diet.

I have been told to monitor my blood pressure twice a day with a home monitor.

I'm not anxious about getting the blood pressure readings, I'm just generally stressed 16 hours a day!

Then if your bp stays high despite your lifestyle it could be caused by a combination of stress and family history. Don't worry if you are eventually put on medication, you'll start with a small dose of one drug and they'll monitor whether it's effective. After 20 years on medication I'm now on three different tablets to keep it acceptable. Still no side effects with it so all OK.

pallisers

DH cut out caffeine completely and his blood pressure went way down
That is intersting. We had our blood pressure taken at work a few weeks ago. Mine was slightly on the high side but the nurse said it could be contributed to being one sleep over the night before and I was tired.
I asked about coffee because I have a teaspoon and half of coffee in my brew several times during a working day. The nurse said it would have no effect on BP but it could temporarily affect the pulse.
It's conflicting information that can cause confusion.