The biggest natural drops come from eating the DASH way with less salt (about 11 points off the top number in people with high blood pressure), aerobic exercise (about 8), losing extra weight (about 1 point for every 2 pounds) and cutting salt (about 5).
When people ask me how to lower blood pressure without more pills, they usually hope for one trick. The trials point to a short list of everyday habits, and the best of them lower the top number about 5 to 11 points in people with high blood pressure.
Blood pressure is measured in mmHg, which I'll call points. A drop of 5 points on the top number would take 145/90 to about 140/90.
For my upcoming book, Your Blood Pressure by the Numbers, I graded dozens of foods, habits and supplements. Below are the changes with the biggest drops, and the few that act in hours or days. If your cuff reads over 180/120 right now, skip to "When to call your doctor."
The book's grade: SUPPORTED (works) for every item in the ranked list below. All are Start here items, the book's biggest, best-proven changes.
The best natural ways to lower blood pressure at home, ranked
Unless I say otherwise, these are office readings in people with high blood pressure, compared with a group that didn't make the change.
- Eat the DASH way, with less salt. DASH is an eating pattern heavy in vegetables, fruit, beans, whole grains and low-fat milk or yogurt. In a feeding trial, it lowered the top number about 11 points and the bottom about 5.5 (DASH trial). For example, 146/92 could land around 135/87. DASH plus less salt lowered the top number about 11.5 (DASH-Sodium). The how-to is in my DASH diet article.
- Get about 150 minutes a week of aerobic exercise. Brisk walking, cycling and swimming all count. In 93 trials, it lowered the top number about 8 points and the bottom about 5 (review). On 24-hour monitors the drop was about 5 and 3, even in people already taking pills (review).
- Lose weight if you carry extra, and keep it off. Across 25 trials, the drop worked out to about 1 point on each number for every kilogram lost, or about 1 point for every 2 pounds (review). If you weigh 200 pounds, losing 5% is 10 pounds, which by that rule of thumb would lower your top number about 4 to 5 points.
- Share your readings with someone who acts on them. When a nurse or pharmacist could adjust medicines between visits, the top number came down about 7 points more than with usual care (review). A home cuff with readings that went to a care team lowered it about 6 points at 12 months. The cuff on its own moved it about 1 point, which could have been chance (review). See how to take your blood pressure at home.
- Cut back if you drink more than 2 drinks a day (more than 1 for women). Those are the 2025 guideline's limits (guideline). People who drank more than 6 drinks a day and cut about in half lowered their top number about 5.5 points and the bottom about 4 (review). If you drink heavily every day, talk to your doctor before you cut back, because stopping all at once can bring dangerous withdrawal. More in does alcohol raise blood pressure?
- Cut sodium. Eating about 1,700 mg less sodium a day, about 3/4 teaspoon of salt, lowered the top number about 5 points and the bottom about 3 (review). Start with packaged and restaurant food. In one U.S. study, about 71% of people's sodium was added before the food reached them, while the shaker and the stove together added only about a tenth (study).
- Eat potassium-rich foods. More potassium lowered the top number about 5 points and the bottom about 3, mostly in trials that used prescription-strength pills (review). The guideline wants it to come mainly from food. Beans, lentils, potatoes, squash, milk and yogurt are good sources. Check with your doctor first if you have kidney disease or take a pill that holds on to potassium.
- Quit smoking. In a smoke-free week, the 24-hour top number was about 3.5 points lower than in a week of smoking (trial).
- Get tested for sleep apnea if you snore loudly or doze off in the day. If you have it, wear CPAP at least 4 hours a night. It lowered office readings about 2.5 points and night readings about 3.5 (review). That's small, but treatment helps in many other ways.
Next on the list, in the book's Add next group, come isometric handgrip training (about 7 points on top, office readings only; review), strength training 2 to 3 days a week (about 6; review) and a potassium-enriched salt substitute (about 5; review), which some people must not use. See salt substitutes and blood pressure.
Do the numbers add up?
Not neatly, so expect less than the total. In DASH-Sodium, going from medium to low salt lowered the top number about 4.6 points on a typical diet but only about 1.7 on DASH, which had already done part of the work (DASH-Sodium).
Combining still beats any one change. In the ENCORE trial, overweight adults with untreated high blood pressure who did DASH plus weight loss and exercise saw their top number fall about 16 points in 4 months. The group on their usual diet fell about 3 (ENCORE).
How to lower blood pressure fast, and what can't be rushed
A few things act within hours or days. Most take weeks.
- One workout lowers it for hours. In a review of 65 studies, blood pressure ran about 5 points lower on top and 3 on the bottom in the hours after a single bout of exercise (review). In people with high blood pressure, the drop is often 5 to 7 points and can last up to a day (review). Don't measure right after a walk.
- Each cigarette pushes it up. In one small trial, the top number went from about 121 to 132 right after a single cigarette (trial).
- DASH eating works within about 2 weeks. The drop in the first DASH trial showed up in the first 2 weeks (trial).
- Salt takes longer. In a review of 133 trials, the full effect of cutting salt took "several weeks to become apparent" (review). Give a salt change at least a month.
- One handgrip session does nothing. In two trials, a single squeeze session didn't lower blood pressure afterward (trials). Used that way, one session is graded UNLIKELY TO HELP.
If you're searching "how to lower blood pressure immediately" because your cuff just showed a scary number, don't take extra pills to force it down unless your doctor has told you to. Even in the hospital, doctors bring very high pressure down slowly on purpose (guideline). Don't start a hard workout to push it down. Sit quietly for a few minutes and take it again. A reading over 180/120 has its own steps, below.
When to call your doctor
- Over 180 on top or 120 on the bottom with no symptoms: wait at least a minute and check again. If it's still that high, contact your doctor's office as soon as possible, or the on-call line if it's closed. If you can't reach a person or get seen that day, go to urgent care.
- Over 180/120 with symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, back pain, numbness, weakness, a change in vision or trouble speaking: call 911. Any sign of a stroke means 911 whatever the cuff says (AHA).
- Before you change much, if you take a blood pressure pill. Less salt, weight loss and exercise add to what your pills already do, and you can get dizzy when you stand. Adjusting the dose is your doctor's job.
Lifestyle adds to medicine and never replaces it. Never stop or change a blood pressure medicine on your own. The guideline recommends medicine now, alongside these habits, if your confirmed office average is 140/90 or higher, or 130/80 or higher if you have heart disease, a past stroke, diabetes, kidney disease or a high heart-risk score. Still, a pill isn't a life sentence. As habits change and weight comes off, lowering a dose or dropping a pill is common in my practice, done with your doctor and a home cuff keeping watch.
On goals, I use 130/80 so the numbers stay consistent. Your doctor may use 140/90, and that isn't wrong either, since each goal rests on evidence from real trials.
What about supplements and "natural remedies"?
No supplement can make up for a poor diet and too little exercise. Diet comes first, then exercise, then supplements.
A few show some promise on weaker evidence. The book lists them as Optional extras, graded PLAUSIBLE (mixed evidence). Hibiscus tea lowered the top number about 7 points, in trials that disagree a great deal (review). Beet juice lowered it about 5 points at the office in people with high blood pressure, with no pooled drop at home or on 24-hour monitors (review; see beet juice and blood pressure). Magnesium lowered it about 3, mainly worth it if a blood test shows you're low (review; see magnesium and blood pressure). Try one at a time for 4 to 8 weeks, and keep it only if your weekly home average came down.
Bottom line
The most effective ways to lower blood pressure naturally are the DASH way of eating, less sodium, about 150 minutes a week of aerobic exercise, losing extra weight and cutting back on heavy drinking. Each lowered the top number about 5 to 11 points in trials of people with high blood pressure. Most take weeks to show, so judge them by weekly home averages. Do it with your doctor, especially if you take blood pressure pills, and never stop a medicine on your own.
Questions people ask
How can I lower my blood pressure fast?
One workout lowers it for several hours, and DASH eating showed its effect within about 2 weeks in the first trial. Salt cuts take several weeks. If a single reading is high, sit quietly and recheck it. Don't take extra pills unless your doctor told you to, and call 911 for a reading over 180/120 with symptoms.
How long does it take to lower blood pressure naturally?
DASH eating lowered blood pressure within about 2 weeks, and the full effect of cutting salt took several weeks. For adults at lower heart risk, the 2025 guideline suggests 3 to 6 months of lifestyle changes before deciding on medicine. Your doctor decides whether you can wait that long.
How do I lower my diastolic (bottom) number?
The same habits lower both numbers. In people with high blood pressure, DASH lowered the bottom number about 5.5 points, aerobic exercise about 5, cutting about 1,700 mg of sodium a day about 3, and weight loss about 1 point per kilogram (2 pounds) lost.
Can I lower blood pressure without medication?
Often by several points, and for people at lower heart risk the guideline suggests trying lifestyle first. Some people need medicine now, though, and habits add to it. If you already take pills, never stop them on your own. Your doctor may lower a dose as your numbers come down, with a home cuff keeping watch.
The rest of the ranking, coming soon
This list is the top of a much longer scoreboard in Your Blood Pressure by the Numbers, coming soon. The book also grades isometric handgrip training (SUPPORTED, for office readings), pink and sea salt (UNLIKELY TO HELP) and smartwatches for blood pressure decisions (UNLIKELY TO HELP), each with its number and a safety badge. Until it's out, start with the DASH diet for high blood pressure or whether coffee raises blood pressure.