Six simple ways to reduce your blood pressure (including drinking tea)

1) Drink more tea, 2) Have yoghurt and blueberries for breakfast, 3) Eat less salt – and avoid processed food, 4) Do some slow and steady exercise, 5) Go easy on alcohol, 6) Get a good night’s sleep

Around one in three adults in the UK has high blood pressure, according to the charity Blood Pressure UK, something that should not be ignored. “Half of all strokes, a third of heart disease, and a high proportion of kidney disease cases are due to high blood pressure,” the charity’s chair, Dr Pauline Swift, tells The i Paper. Last week, researchers at the University of Sydney found that short bursts of exercise, like climbing stairs, can lower blood pressure. “For those who don’t do a lot of exercise, walking did still have some positive benefits for blood pressure,” says the study’s author Dr Jo Blodgett. “But if you want to change your blood pressure, putting more demand on the cardiovascular system through exercise will have the greatest effect.” The good news is that there are other easy ways to reduce blood pressure. Here’s what else can help… (Photo: Getty)

1) Drink more tea

1) Drink more tea, 2) Have yoghurt and blueberries for breakfast, 3) Eat less salt – and avoid processed food, 4) Do some slow and steady exercise, 5) Go easy on alcohol, 6) Get a good night’s sleep

Your morning cuppa may be as beneficial to your blood pressure as your morning walk. A 2014 study published in the British Journal of Nutrition found that tea may improve your blood pressure by helping your blood vessels to relax. One cup won’t do much – rather, the researchers found that long term tea-drinking shows the most benefit. After 12 weeks study participants who drank tea every day showed lower blood pressure readings, resulting in an eight per cent reduced risk of stroke, and a five per cent reduced risk of coronary artery disease. They found green tea had the best effects on blood pressure, with black tea coming in second. Coffee on the other hand has long been thought to increase blood pressure, but the jury is still out. While coffee consumption does cause an immediate increase, the effects are short term and more pronounced among those who never drink coffee. However, there have been no links between regular and moderate coffee drinking and high blood pressure. The NHS recommends consuming no more than the equivalent of four cups per day. (Photo: Fiordaliso/Getty)

2) Have yoghurt and blueberries for breakfast

1) Drink more tea, 2) Have yoghurt and blueberries for breakfast, 3) Eat less salt – and avoid processed food, 4) Do some slow and steady exercise, 5) Go easy on alcohol, 6) Get a good night’s sleep

“Yogurt has also been shown to have a beneficial effect on our blood pressure,” says Rice. And according to a 2015 study from Florida State University, it might be a good idea to top them with blueberries. Their researchers found that women who eat a handful a day can help lower their high blood pressure, thanks to the fact they’re a good source of phytonutrients, a naturally occurring plant compound that can help protect against heart disease. (Photo: Kentaroo Tryman/Getty/Moment RF)

3) Eat less salt – and avoid processed food

1) Drink more tea, 2) Have yoghurt and blueberries for breakfast, 3) Eat less salt – and avoid processed food, 4) Do some slow and steady exercise, 5) Go easy on alcohol, 6) Get a good night’s sleep

“Too much salt in the diet causes the body to retain more water, increasing blood volume, which raises pressure in the blood vessels,” says nutritionist Sam Rice, author of The Midlife Method: How to lose weight and feel great after 40. “This condition, also known as hypertension, is a cause of heart disease, stroke and vascular dementia.” In the UK, it’s recommended we eat no more than 6g or around one and a half tsp of salt per day. “The problem is that many of the processed foods we buy are high in salt and so it’s difficult to gauge how much we’re consuming. Reducing these ‘hidden’ salts in our diet by eating more whole foods should be our first line of defence against high blood pressure.” Dietitian Helen Bond agrees: “Around 80 percent of our salt comes from hidden sources, namely processed foods. So, cook as many of your meals from scratch as possible, and use heart-friendly flavours like pepper, herbs, garlic or spices. Lastly, don’t be fooled by expensive Himalayan or rock salts – they have the same risks as table salt when it comes to blood pressure.” (Photo: Peter Dazeley/Getty/The Image Bank RF)

4) Do some slow and steady exercise

1) Drink more tea, 2) Have yoghurt and blueberries for breakfast, 3) Eat less salt – and avoid processed food, 4) Do some slow and steady exercise, 5) Go easy on alcohol, 6) Get a good night’s sleep

As well as short bursts of breathless exercise that this latest study recommends, personal trainer Matt Roberts says that slow and steady exercises also win the race to keep your blood pressure at a healthy level. “We know that interval exercises, where you work out at a fairly intense pace before resting, can help lower blood pressure by dilating the blood vessels. However, whole body cardiovascular exercise, like using a rowing machine, bike rides, and long walks where you don’t get out of breath can also help.” This will also help you maintain a healthy weight, which helps lower your blood pressure because in a healthy weight body the heart doesn’t have to work so hard to pump blood around the body. (Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty)

5) Go easy on alcohol

1) Drink more tea, 2) Have yoghurt and blueberries for breakfast, 3) Eat less salt – and avoid processed food, 4) Do some slow and steady exercise, 5) Go easy on alcohol, 6) Get a good night’s sleep

As we head into summer it’s worth remembering that too much alcohol can raise your blood pressure. A 2023 study, published in the health journal Hypertension, that analysed data from 20,000 adults found that just one drink a day can raise blood pressure. The greatest increase, however, was found among those who drank the equivalent of three glasses of wine a day. “We were somewhat surprised to see that consuming an already low level of alcohol was also linked to higher blood pressure changes over time compared with no consumption,” says study author Marco Vinceti, a professor at Boston University. “Although far less than the blood pressure increase seen in heavy drinkers.” Drinking sensibly and having alcohol-free days each week will protect your heart, says Helen Bond. One unit is the equivalent of one small glass of wine or half a pint of normal strength beer and the official recommendation is to drink no more than 14 units of alcohol per week. “However, that’s not a number to aim towards and you should drink less than that if you can. Rather than binge-drinking all your units in one go, spread them evenly throughout the week, ideally factoring in several alcohol-free days.” (Photo: Peter Cade/Getty/Photodisc)

6) Get a good night’s sleep

1) Drink more tea, 2) Have yoghurt and blueberries for breakfast, 3) Eat less salt – and avoid processed food, 4) Do some slow and steady exercise, 5) Go easy on alcohol, 6) Get a good night’s sleep

Try going to bed earlier. Researchers from the American College of Cardiology found that sleeping for less than seven hours a night can increase your blood pressure by seven per cent, while those who regularly sleep fewer than five hours increase theirs by 11 per cent, something the researchers believed was due to poor sleeper’s lifestyle habits and stress levels. (Photo: Luis Alvarez/Getty)

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