How to get your pressure down .. & keep it there

Watch your weight: This is a key factor. Losing 10 per cent of your body weight can have a big impact on your blood pressure and your risk of suffering from heart disease and stroke.  Stay active: Just half an hour of exercise every day could cut your risk of high blood pressure by almost a fifth, according to a report in the journal Hypertension. Exercise strengthens the heart so it can pump more blood with less effort, thereby decreasing the force on our arteries. 

Add yoga into your routine: Swedish researchers found that people who did yoga once a week saw a significant drop in blood pressure after 12 weeks. 

Be salt savvy: Salt affects blood pressure because it draws in fluid, raising the volume and pressure of blood in your arteries. You should aim for a maximum of 6g a day, advises Katharine. This can be tricky as salt – like sugar – is hidden in so many foods. Download the free smartphone FoodSwitch App – with a SaltSwitch filter – to help you make healthier and smarter food and drink choices.

Simply scan the barcode of more than 100,000 packaged foods and drinks sold in major UK supermarkets for easy-tounderstand “traffic light” colour-coded nutritional information, along with suggested similar, healthier products. 

Eat like a Greek: The Dietary Approach to Stopping Hypertension (DASH) is based on the Mediterranean way of eating. It’s high in olive oil, garlic, fruit, vegetables, nuts and low-fat dairy products, with protein from fish and chicken rather than red meat. It is low in saturated fat, cholesterol, sugar and refined carbohydrates. It raises your intake of potassium, calcium, magnesium, antioxidant vitamins and fibre – all of which help to bring down blood pressure. Visit dashdiet.org for more information. 

Drink purple juice: Purple fruit and veg seem to have particular blood pressure benefits, possibly because the colour pigments called anthocyanins increase the output of nitric oxide, which improves blood flow.

According to researchers at Queen Mary University of London, high blood pressure patients who drank 250ml of beetroot juice a day were found to have blood pressure levels back in the “normal” range by the end of the study. 

Up your sunshine vitamin intake: Taking vitamin D supplements could work as well as some blood pressure drugs, claim researchers. The study, presented at the European Society of Hypertension, shows supplements lowered blood pressure in patients with hypertension. So, unless you’re getting plenty of sun and eating oily fish on a weekly basis, consider taking a daily supplement of 10mcg. 

Have yoghurt for breakfast: According to scientists at Boston University School of Medicine, eating five or more servings of yoghurt a week can lower a woman’s risk of developing high blood pressure by 20 per cent. It’s thought the calcium in yoghurt makes blood vessels more supple, which keeps pressure low. Those who ate yoghurt and a diet high in fruit, vegetables, nuts and beans were 31 per cent less likely to develop hypertension. 

Nap if you can: A Greek study of 400 middle-aged people found those who had an afternoon snooze had blood pressure readings around five per cent lower than those who stayed awake all day.