You have to walk 2 hours a day to lower your blood pressure so get a
dog for that.

Consult your doctor on how to lower your blood pressure.

It lowers your stress level not your blood pressure  even though these
furballs of mine stress me out all the time.  I swear they are going to kill
me one day

Lifestyle changes
 a.. Don't smoke cigarettes or use any tobacco product.
 b.. Lose weight if you're overweight.
 c.. Exercise regularly.
 d.. Eat a healthy diet that includes lots of fruits and vegetables and is
low in fat.
 e.. Limit your sodium, alcohol and caffeine intake.
 f.. Try relaxation techniques or biofeedback.
Sprinkle 2 tablespoons flaxseed over your yogurt in the morning and mix 2
tablespoons into your ice cream, spaghetti sauce, or other food later in the
day. One small study found that adding 4 tablespoons of the crunchy stuff
significantly lowered systolic blood pressure (a strong predictor of heart
disease) in postmenopausal women with a history of heart disease. Flaxseed
is rich in many nutrients and in fiber. Its effects on blood pressure are
likely due to its high content of omega-3 fatty acids

Every morning, take a brisk 15-minute walk. Amazingly, you don't need a lot
of exercise to make a difference in your blood pressure. When Japanese
researchers asked 168 inactive volunteers with high blood pressure to
exercise at a health club for different amounts of time each week for eight
weeks, blood pressure dropped almost as much in those who exercised 30-90
minutes a week as in those who exercised more than 90 minutes a week

Substitute tea for your morning (and afternoon and evening) coffee. An
Australian study found that every one-cup increase in daily tea consumption
decreased systolic blood pressure (the top number) two points and diastolic
pressure one point. The benefits ended after four cups, however

Dip your chips into guacamole. Why? Avocados have more
blood-pressure-lowering potassium than any other fruit or vegetable,
including bananas. We should get about 4.7 grams a day of potassium, but
most Americans get just half this amount

Turn to dark chocolate when your sweet tooth asserts itself. Unlike milk
chocolate, dark chocolate is rich in flavonoids that keep your arteries
flexible, preventing the increases in pressure that come with stiffer blood
vessels. That's thought to be one reason for the normal blood pressure of a
tribe of Panamanian Indians who eat a high-salt diet but also consume
massive amounts of cocoa. In addition, a study published in the Journal of
the American Medical Association found that three ounces of dark chocolate a
day helped to lower blood pressure in older people with isolated systolic
hypertension (a type of high blood pressure in which only the upper number
of a pressure reading is high). Other good sources of flavonoids include tea
and wine, as well as many fruits and vegetables

Snack on roasted soybeans. These make a crunchy, nutrient-packed munch
that's as yummy as any bag of chips. Studies show that people with high
blood pressure can lower their systolic readings by an average of 10 points
by eating one ounce of roasted soybeans (also called soy nuts) a day for two
weeks. The beans are available at some supermarkets, as well as specialty
and health food stores. Just look for unsalted beans

Flavor your food with lots of ground pepper. Why? Pepper is a strong,
dominant flavor that can help you reduce your interest in salt. In fact,
your tongue is easily trained away from its salt addiction. When you switch
to low-salt foods, your meals may taste bland for a couple of days. Bring in
the pepper. And if that doesn't appeal to you, try garlic, lemon, ginger,
basil, or other big-punch flavors you like. After a week, your old favorite
foods will taste dreadfully oversalted and your blood pressure will be
singing your praises.

Eat a banana or a quarter of a cantaloupe at each breakfast. That's because
both are rich in potassium. Potassium is sometimes called the "un-salt"
because if you don't get enough of it, your blood pressure is likely to
rise. It's easy to slide potassium into your diet. Other high-potassium
foods include spinach, lima beans, sweet potatoes, and the aforementioned
avocados

Eat a handful of dried apricots every afternoon. Like bananas, apricots are
a particularly good source of potassium. Plus they have lots of fiber, loads
of iron, and oodles of beta-carotene. The drying process actually increases
the concentration of these nutrients, all of which are good for your
circulatory system. And as a snack, dried apricots are low in calories:
roughly eight total just 100 calories. Look for an unsulfured brand.

Park in the Outer Mongolia of the parking lot. All you need is an extra
4,000 to 5,000 steps a day and you could lower your blood pressure 11
points! At least, that's what researchers from the University of Tennessee
found when they tracked postmenopausal women.

Hold hands with your partner for 10 minutes. That's all it took in a
University of North Carolina study to keep blood pressure steady during a
stressful incident. Oh, and a brief hug afterward. You can handle that,
can't you?

Sleep with earplugs tonight. Studies suggest that being exposed to noise
while you're sleeping may increase your blood pressure as well as your heart
rate, so block out the noise.

Drink a glass of OJ every morning and another at night. That's all it took
in a Cleveland Clinic study to lower systolic blood pressure an average of 7
percent and diastolic blood pressure an average of 4.6 percent. Praise the
high levels of potassium in orange juice.

Go to the pound and adopt a pet. One study found that a pet helped control
blood pressure changes in people with hypertension as much as the
hypertension drug Zestril.

Think about how you've been sleeping lately. Waking up tired? Partner
complaining you snore a lot? Talk to your doctor. You may have a condition
called sleep apnea. Studies find that half of the people who have the
condition, in which you stop breathing dozens or even hundreds of times
during the night, also have hypertension.

Find (and eliminate) at least one hidden source of salt a day. For
instance, did you know that many breakfast cereals contain sodium? Who needs
salt in their cereal? Find a brand that's sodium-free.

Spend five minutes a day sitting in a quiet room repeating this mantra: "One
day at a time." Meditation is a known stress-relieving technique, with
numerous studies attesting to its ability to lower blood pressure. Other
good mantras include: "I'm doing the right thing," "This, too, shall pass,"
"Breathe," and "Calm, calm, calm."

Stock your medicine chest with these supplements and take them daily:
Garlic, fish oil, calcium, CoQ10. All have blood-pressure-lowering
properties. Just check with your doctor first.

A lot of what passes for health "news" is minor notability, elevated to
fad status. There certainly are studies reliably demonstrating that pets
do temporarily reduce *stress-related* increases in blood pressure, but
pets are no match for the physical stress people put on their own hearts
and circulatory systems. A cat can't clear the cholesterol from clogged
arteries. No dog will repair the damage and scarring caused by repeated
inhalation of toxic smoke. A fish tank or bird can't ameliorate the
effects of genetic inheritance.

What a good pet really can do is what pets in general are terrific at:
making life worth living, giving temporary relief from BP stress spikes
and imbuing their owners with a lot of good reasons to take care of
their bodies. Anyone with a pet knew this already. The studies just
confirmed their suspicions and gave lazy journalists gee-whiz,
holistically-fluffy, space-filling stories to write.

It lowers it at times and may give you a better average. BUt it won't
lower it all the time.

I get nervous at the doctor's office, so I always get a lecture on
high blood pressure since it is on the line for high. This year, when
they took my blood pressure, I pictured Jay Jay's cute fluffy face.
The nurse told me my blood pressure was really good and moved on to
the next thing.

Worked quite well for me :)

If you read my posts about Archer you'll see that my cats are *giving* me
high blood pressure!  ;>

Hugs,

CatNipped