Reduce Your Blood Pressure

By Doug Donaldson

Blood Pressure Basics
With every beat of your heart, blood is pumped through your arteries. As the blood pushes through your arteries, it exerts pressure on the artery walls. That blood pressure is measured when the heart beats (systolic pressure) and between beats, when the heart relaxes (diastolic pressure). Blood pressure is expressed as a set of numbers, systolic "over" diastolic. So, if your blood pressure is 115/70 mmHg (millimeters of mercury), your systolic pressure is 115 mmHg and your diastolic pressure is 70 mmHg, or "115 over 70." A healthy blood pressure reading is lower than 120/80 mmHg.

Steps to Change Your Blood Pressure
If your doctor says you have high blood pressure, there are steps you can take to reduce it. In fact, your pressure could drop about 19 points within a few months by adopting some changes, according to Marc Pohl, M.D., head of clinical hypertension at the Cleveland Clinic.

The changes are listed with possible blood pressure reductions: