Can Losing Weight Lower Blood Pressure? Answered by a Doctor

Weight loss positively affects blood pressure.

Higher than normal blood pressure is related to unhealthy habits, such as smoking, drinking alcohol, having too much body weight, and not exercising enough or at all.

All this leads to weight gain, and the extra pounds you carry cause higher blood pressure.

This is especially concerning because chronic blood pressure causes half a million deaths yearly.

Moreover, being overweight causes sleep apnea (breathing issues while sleeping), which also raises pressure.

But, if you achieve a healthy weight, you’ll be keeping your blood pressure in check. If you lose weight, you’ll lower your blood pressure numbers because the heart doesn’t need to work as hard to pump the blood around the body.

This also means you’ll be at a lower risk of other health problems, such as stroke, diabetes, and heart disease.

You don’t even need to lose a lot of weight. Even if you’re losing weight in small amounts, you’ll be lowering your blood pressure. It’s estimated that for every pound you lose, you lower your blood pressure by a point [6].

For example, if you lose 10 pounds, your blood pressure can drop by 10 points, which is a large decrease and means a lower chance of heart disease.

Apart from weight loss, you should keep an eye on your waistline. Too much weight around the waist puts you at a greater risk of blood pressure.

Women should keep their waist measurements lower than 35 inches. However, it’s always best to consult a doctor when losing weight and check if you have the correct waist measurement.

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Be careful with alcohol. Small amounts of alcohol can even lower your pressure by 2 to 4 points.

But, too much alcohol will raise your pressure by several points and will make blood pressure medication ineffective.

Generally, more than one drink a day for women is too much for blood pressure. One drink can be 12 oz. beer, 5 oz. wine, or 1.5 oz. of 80-proof liquor.

3. Quit Smoking

Even one cigarette a day will increase your pressure for several minutes after you’re done smoking it.

Quitting smoking can help you return your pressure to regular numbers and have a longer life expectancy.

You should also be careful with caffeine intake, especially if you don’t consume it often or a lot.

Caffeine is known for weight loss, but it can increase your pressure by 10 points if you aren’t a regular coffee drinker.

However, if you have caffeine regularly, it won’t significantly affect your blood pressure.

You can check if caffeine increases your pressure: measure the pressure half an hour before having a caffeinated drink and after drinking it.

You’re sensitive to caffeine if your pressure goes up by 5 to 10 points.

5. Lower Stress

Chronic stress is a big cause of high pressure. Even occasional stress can cause your blood pressure to go up, especially if you react to stress by eating junk food, drinking, or smoking.

Think about what causes you to feel stressed. For most people, these are factors such as work, family, and finances. Try to eliminate it or reduce stress once you’ve figured out why you feel stressed.

Here’s how to cope with stress:

• Give yourself more time — Don’t rush, but learn to say no, and set manageable limits.
• Think about which problems you can solve — For example, talk with your boss about problems at work or family about problems at home.
• Know what triggers you — For example, if certain people make you feel stressed, try to avoid them.
• Meditate — Stress hormones constrict blood vessels, which causes blood pressure to spike up. Try meditating or deep breathing exercises to calm yourself down and lower the pressure.

Eating healthily can help you lose weight, avoid heart disease, and lower blood pressure.

Eating healthy has a lot of health benefits and can help reduce the risk of increased blood pressure and lower an already high pressure.

You should eat foods that are low in saturated fat, total fat, and cholesterol.

Eat whole grains, fish, nuts, poultry, fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products, because these have low amounts of fats.

Plus, they are high in potassium, magnesium, calcium, protein, and fiber. This eating plan is known as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet.

Here are some tips to help you eat healthily:

• Keep a food diary — Keep track of what you eat. This will help you have a healthy diet and point out any bad eating habits.
• Reduce sodium — A small sodium reduction can lower your pressure by 2 to 8 points.
• Don’t eat processed foods — Most sodium is added during processing, so you should stay away from these foods.
• Lower amount of salt — 1 teaspoon of salt has 2,300 mg of sodium. Use herbs or spices instead of salt.
• Read labels — To avoid foods high in sodium, such as bread and rolls, pizza, soup, cured meats, and cold cuts.