The #1 Habit to Break If You Have High Blood Pressure, According to a Doctor

If you’re like a lot of people with high blood pressure who ask Dr. Google what to do, you’ll come up with around 1,770,000,000 results in a few seconds. That’s a lot for anyone to sift through, let alone get meaningful answers. Of course, there are plenty of steps you can take to lower your blood pressure. But there’s a sneaky habit that might be driving your numbers up without you even knowing it. So we’re here to pinpoint the one clear thing you can do to bring your numbers down. Keep reading.

Understanding Blood Pressure

Let’s start with what blood pressure is and what it means. Blood pressure has to do with the blood flowing through your arteries. Sounds simple enough, right? The issue becomes when that blood pushes through at an exceptionally high rate—placing stress on your arterial walls. Over time, your arteries can become damaged, and that’s what ups your risk for heart attack and stroke. 

Blood pressure is measured two ways. The first is your systolic pressure, which is the force of blood being pumped out of your heart and into your arteries. The second is diastolic pressure, which measures the force your blood puts on your artery walls while your heart rests between beats.

These numbers are expressed in millimeters of mercury (or mm HG). But your doctor might just say something like “150 over 90.” What does that mean? A healthy blood pressure is under 120 systolic and less than 80 diastolic. Readings above 130 systolic and 80 diastolic are considered to be elevated. And anything greater than 130 or 80 diastolic qualifies as high blood pressure (aka hypertension).

The #1 Habit to Break If You Have High Blood Pressure, According to a Doctor

Let’s not bury the lede here: The No. 1 habit to break if you have high blood pressure is to avoid foods high in added sodium and saturated fat, like restaurant foods and certain ultra-processed foods. Restaurant foods are pretty straightforward, but processed foods fall on a spectrum. Technically speaking, if human hands are involved, that counts as processing. So even foods with no added ingredients, like a prewashed bag of spinach or a package of skinless chicken breast, are processed. However, there’s a big difference between that minimal amount of processing and ultra-processing. Ultra-processed foods—think chips, crackers, candy, packaged baked goods and soda—are often high in sodium, added sugars, saturated fat and preservatives that help extend their shelf life. “Not all processing is bad,” says David L. Katz, M.D., M.P.H., FACPM, FACP, FACLM, a specialist in internal medicine and preventive medicine with expertise in nutrition. 

“Ultra-processed foods contain ingredients that home cooks would never, or hardly ever, use—including flavorizers, colorizers, texturizers and emulsifiers,” says Katz. “This isn’t about spinach leaves that were rinsed and bagged, or lentils that were dried and bagged, or oats that were pressed, rolled and packaged.” 

And it’s not that the occasional salt-and-vinegar chips or frozen pizza are the worst things in the world. The issue is the quantity of them that we get in our diets. Upward of 58% of the total daily calories Americans eat come from ultra-processed foods. And the current research—though almost entirely observational—shows a link between ultra-processed foods and high blood pressure.

Why can ultra-processed foods spell trouble for blood pressure? For starters, they’re typically high in added sodium. “Sodium is a major preventable driver of blood pressure variation,” says Katz. ” In addition to the sodium, he says, leaning on ultra-processed convenience foods also tends to deliver more added sugar and saturated fats that may increase heart health risk and crowd out whole foods in your diet—both of which can drive blood pressure up. 

Strategies for Better Blood Pressure

Here are some tweaks that can help bring your blood pressure down:

1. Cook more at home. That’s not to say that you can’t get DoorDash ever again. But there is good evidence linking eating out to higher sodium levels. For instance, one study found that men who ate as little as one meal per day prepared out of the home consumed 7% more sodium. Plus, making meals at home also helps you control other ingredients that may spell trouble for heart health, like added sugar and saturated fat. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Make some overnight oats that will be waiting for you in the morning, throw together a salad with whatever is hanging out in your crisper drawer, or stir-fry a little chicken with frozen veggies (these tricks make frozen veggies taste just as good as fresh!).
2. Get active. Nutrition is a biggie when it comes to controlling blood pressure, but regular physical activity is also key. If you like to bike or go for long walks with friends, great. However, any type of movement is good and can help keep your blood pressure in check. Research shows that even so-called “leisure activities,” like kicking a soccer ball around with your kid or gardening, can have a positive impact on blood pressure.,
3. Decompress. Research has found that people who feel chronically stressed are 61% more likely to have high blood pressure than those who report low stress levels. The good news is that finding ways to reduce stress in your life may help bring your numbers down. Katz suggests doing small things on the daily. Maybe it’s a five-minute skin-care routine. Or a quiet cup of tea minus devices. Or a vent session with your bestie. All those small moments can add up to something pretty powerful.

The Bottom Line

Curbing your intake of foods high in added sodium and saturated fat—like restaurant foods and certain ultra-processed foods—is a top strategy to help reduce high blood pressure. And a bonus is that it could also reduce your risk for other conditions, like high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and more. Alongside regular physical activity and stress management, it can help you meet your health goals in a way that works for the long haul.