10 ways to LOWER your Blood Pressure (Science-backed)

These are the 10 best science-based ways to LOWER your Blood Pressure. Diet tips, best workouts, postural habits and much more. Lower your blood pressure and your cardiovascular risk with these scientific tips.

Connect with me:
Animations: Even Topland @toplandmedia

References & Additional Resources:
Potassium salt:

Salt in the Western diet:

DASH:

Exercise:

Sitting less:

Weight loss:

Alcohol:

Smoking:

Sleep & Stress:

Caffeine:

Medication:

Disclaimer: The contents of this video are for informational purposes only and are not intended to be medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, nor to replace medical care. The information presented herein is accurate and conforms to the available scientific evidence to the best of the author's knowledge as of the time of posting. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions regarding any medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of information contained in Nutrition Made Simple!.

#NutritionMadeSimple #GilCarvalho

0:00 Best salts
2:40 Best and worst foods
4:30 Best workouts
5:20 Best positions
6:00 Weight & Fat mass
6:43 Alcohol & Tobacco
7:49 Sleep & Stress
8:13 Caffeine & meds

[sandraelder]

I like the straightforward format of your videos so much. No emojis, no sound effects, clicks or swooshes, no teaser delays - just great info shared clearly and perfectly paced! You keep things moving without racing through the content. I also really appreciate that you are straight with us when the data is ambiguous or unconvincing. Thanks for all you do. Your videos have helped me a lot. And the bossa nova is a bonus 😁.

[BikerBreatnac]

My blood pressure went from high to optimal when I became vegan 6 years ago and went from an overweight meat-eater to being a vegan with similar weight to what I was in my mid-20s. I do try to eat as much Whole Food Plant-Based as I can, but having vegan junk food occasionally. It seems to work well for me. I cannot imagine the route I was going down with my heavy meat diet. Now, I am in my 50s and I am very fit and healthy. I also weight train, cycle, run and walk including walking wearing a weighted vest, I have a daily meditation practice, gave up smoking 21 years ago and gave up drinking over 2 years ago. I do work at a desk all day, but invested in a standing desk a few years ago. I am not saying that becoming vegan lowered my blood pressure, I used to smoke, drink, workout, eat meat, sit at a desk all day, have stress and insomnia. What I am saying is something between giving up meat and dairy, drinking, starting a daily meditation and mindfulness practice and generally having a healthier lifestyle and has amazing results for me. However, I did see my blood pressure lower after giving up meat and dairy and before I gave up drinking and having a daily meditation practice, so I think it did help a lot towards it.

[peterz]

Thanks. Have also seen study in interval walking training (IWT) which did a good job lowering BP beyond normal walking. Basically, it you do a 20 to 30 minute walk, every 3 or 4 minutes ramp up walking speed to max for a couple of minutes. I believe the study I saw came out of Japan. Effects were large.

[sandrafrancis]

Great advice for everyone, even if you don't have high B.P. 👍

[rn]

It's always the same for every disease...
In general :
1) Reduce sodium
2) Healthy whole unprocessed foods or minimally processed
3) Move more
4) No alcohol, cigarettes or coffee
5) Healthy weight
5) Reduce stress
6) Improve sleep
7) Purpose in life
8) Family support
9) Supplements
10) Medications

PS. Excellent videos as always

[brocklastname]

Plus regular alcohol consumption wrecks your sleep. Which can also affect your BP.

[corinayuen]

Gil, you forgot to mention secondary high blood pressure - that's when another disease is causing it. I had HBP that got worse and worse until I was diagnosed with Cushing's disease. When I had the tumor removed, 2 months after the surgery, my BP dropped, dropped, dropped, until it was below 120/80. I have since been totally normal. Nothing could have brought down my BP if I had not had the tumor removed. Sadly, doctors never question if there's anything else behind the condition, especially if you're middle age. You instantly get a pill, or two!

[mb]

Katy Bowman’s work might be a good guide for the moving more recommendation, exercise can be hard to implement if it’s more of a ‘supplemental’ practice that you have to will yourself to do at prescribed or set intervals in the day etc but building it in as a necessary part of your lifestyle via shaping your environment might make it easier to maintain. I’m not quite there yet myself but I keep looking at it as a thing that I’d like to adopt at some point.

[theflyingdutchman]

All these ten items I pretty much live by. I still couldn’t get my BP lowered. I eschewed medication for years. Now I’m on a low dose of BP medicine with no side effects and finally I have consistently good results.

[AnnieKMusic]

Sound quality is great in this video!!! Crisp, easy to hear.

[GeriatricMillennialGamerDude]

I really like summary videos like this one. You have an impressive catalog of videos and it is useful for new viewers to have them summed up every couple of years.

[ashleyfarias]

It wasnt mentioned in the video but msg can help with cutting back on sodium as well as maintain flavor in your dishes

[helenaMe]

Can't see the link to the video about the best workouts. ? Very good video 👍👍

[mirandamom]

Someone did tell me which exercise is best for reducing blood pressure— you did! And we’ve added a short isometrics routine three times weekly to our program.

[richardolson]

Hey Dr. Gil! I wanted to request some informational videos. I was wondering if you could make a video on a low carb vegan diet (like different food options and if it is healthier to be low(er) carb in general. Second why is the rda for potassium 4700 mg? Do we really need that much and how can we get it, where did all the RDA'S come from and should we be focusing on them? Thanks and I appreciate what you have been doing!

[azdhan]

Great info! Many thanks for sharing Dr Carvalho

[stargazerbird]

Weight is all in my experience. I once went to the docs for a regular check up for the pill. I had to take the children I looked after with me into the room including one with behavioural challenges. My stress was through the roof. BP was completely normal. I was at a BMI around 20. Nowadays I am chilled out most of the time but a lot heavier. BP does go up when I am stressed.

[Dean-snsm]

Hello Gil. I wanted to ask a question that maybe could be turned into a video (a video suggestion), that I’ve been thinking about and asking myself lately. That is, is it better to eat a salad before or after your main meal? I eat salad about every day and often more than once a day, ranging from cucumber and tomato type salads to grain-based salads with vegetables or legumes. In my culture, it was traditional to eat a salad after your main meal, but with less people eating salads and most restaurants always serving soups or salads before your main course (because it puts food in front of you quickest), most people do the opposite now.

What I want to know is, assuming your main meal is protein and carbohydrate based, is having the salad before or after this meal a better choice? Other factors could be the type of salad, the type of main meal, and the window between eating them. I have heard mixed results about this with some people claiming one way and some the other.
Ultimately, I know it is of little concern because the best course of action would be to: simply eat salads because they are good for us, and not worry about when. So, this is a question for the 1%, but as someone who eats salads as apart of a daily diet, I think it is an interesting subject worth looking into.

[captainbuck]

I think exercising with burst of speed is very helpful. After warm up on the treadmill, I do 2 minutes normal pace followed by 1 minute all out. I do this for 30-45 minutes. This beats a steadily increasing rate of speed.

[stefaniasmanio]

Hi dr. Gil. Fantastic and precious as always! ❤ thanks! Thank you for the summary at the end of the video. ❤ btw I often get confused, when caffeine is involved: what about tea? Black classical English tea.... would you mind telling us something about it? ❤❤❤ how is your mother?❤ ❤❤❤❤