1. Diminish your salt intake and learn to season your food with herbs and spices.
Try curry, fennel, and garlic, for instance. Eat fresh food – real food – as often as possible, not prepackaged food that can sit on a shelf for months. Salt intake can be balanced, in part, by taking enough magnesium, potassium and calcium in your diet. All of these supplements should be taken in consultation with your doctor.
2. Get down to your ideal body weight.
A loss of 10 pounds usually equates to the normal dosage of one medication. People with hypertension see this condition completely vanish when they reach their ideal body weight. And again, exercise is crucial.
3. Stay away from stimulants like coffee, tea, sodas, alcohol, and cigarettes.
You simply cannot smoke. And you cannot be sipping diet sodas all day long. Your doctor can advise you on whether you can still enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning.
4. Be at bed for your snooze.
You have to get between 8 to 10 hours of sleep. Sleep deprivation puts your body under stress and thus causing hypertension. If you suffer from sleep apnea – a rapid cycle of waking up many times at night, periods during which the heart may stop. It puts the body under tremendous stress and causes secondary hypertension.
5. Live below your means so that you are not constantly stressed out about finances.
6. Have fun!
Enjoying social times, particularly with people you know well, helps you cope with stress. Keeping a quiet time each day is also very important, whether you spend time alone or, much better in prayer.
7. Lastly, if you are found to have hypertension and your doctor prescribes medication, take it!
Take it at least until you can change your diet and exercise patterns to achieve an ideal body weight. That will obviate the need, in many cases, for continuing such medication.