If you’ve been diagnosed with high blood pressure, your first thought may be that you’ll need to start taking medication. But that’s usually not doctors’ first resort. “Before starting a medication your doctor is likely going to want you to [make] lifestyle changes,” says Rachel Bond, MD, a cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital.
Even if your doctor does recommend that you take medication to lower your blood pressure, it doesn’t mean that you need to be on it for life, says Dr. Bond. A deciding factor? Committing to heart-healthy lifestyle tweaks that can help lower your blood pressure naturally.
Rachel Bond, MD, FACC, is a Cardiologist at Dignity Health and served as Associate Director of the Women's Heart Health Program at Northwell Health, Lenox Hill Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Cardiology at Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine.
Dr. Bloom is a Cardiologist, an Associate Professor of Medicine at Stony Brook University Medical Center, a fellow of the American College of Cardiology and the Heart Failure Society of America.
Joan Pagano is an exercise physiologist in New York City.
Frances Largeman-Roth is a nutritionist and cookbook author in New York City.
References
American Heart Association. (2016). Managing weight to control high blood pressure.
American Heart Association. (2016). Managing stress to control high blood pressure.
American Heart Association. (2016). Shaking the salt habit to lower high blood pressure.
Harsha, D, et al. (2008). Weight loss and blood pressure control (Pro). Hypertension.
Whelton, P. K., et al. (2017). 2017 ACC/AHA/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/AGS/APhA/ASH/ASPC/NMA/PCNA guideline for the prevention, detection, evaluation, and management of high blood pressure in adults: A report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines. Hypertension.
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