10 Mistakes That Keep Your Blood Pressure High

Dr. Alex Wibberley counsels against accidental self-sabotage:

The pressure is on (and it need not be!)

Hypertension often has no symptoms but causes continuous strain on your blood vessels, heart, kidneys, and brain, increasing your risk of heart attack, stroke, and organ failure.

So, how to keep on top of it? Here are 10 mistakes to avoid:

1. Salt as a “be all and end all”: focusing only on salt ignores the bigger driver of high blood pressure, as metabolic dysfunction and insulin resistance raise pressure by increasing fluid retention, nervous system activity, and vessel stiffness
   • See: Hypertension: Factors Far More Relevant Than Salt
2. Ultra-processed foods: these foods worsen insulin resistance, increase visceral fat, and contain hidden sodium, so reducing them improves multiple blood pressure pathways at once
   • See: How Likely Is It That Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFs) Will Kill You?
3. Ignoring visceral fat: fat around your organs acts as a hormone-producing tissue that drives inflammation and blood pressure regulation systems, while even modest weight loss can meaningfully lower your readings
   • See: Visceral Belly Fat & How To Lose It
4. Measurement errors: incorrect technique like using the wrong cuff, crossing your legs, or not resting beforehand can skew readings by 5–15 points, making proper measurement essential, or else you may think you’re doing fine while actually your blood pressure is out of control
   • See: 11 Mistakes When Measuring Blood Pressure
5. Low dietary nitrates: foods like beetroot and leafy greens boost nitric oxide, which relaxes your blood vessels and can lower systolic pressure by 4–10 mmHg
   • See: Beetroot For More Than Just Your Blood Pressure
6. Low potassium intake: potassium helps your body excrete sodium and relax blood vessels, but most diets are deficient despite it being abundant in whole foods like beans, potatoes, and greens
   • See: Why You’re Probably Not Getting Enough Potassium
7. Sedentary lifestyle: regular aerobic exercise improves insulin sensitivity, reduces visceral fat, and lowers blood pressure by around 7–12 points, similar to some medications
   • See: Stand Up For Your Health (Or Don’t) ← our main feature on this also includes more things you can do if you must sit, to make sitting less bad!
8. Poor sleep: lack of sleep or conditions like obstructive sleep apnea keep your body in a stressed state and are a common cause of treatment-resistant hypertension
   • See also: How Regularity Of Sleep Can Be Even More Important Than Duration
9. Alcohol consumption: alcohol raises blood pressure in a dose-dependent way, and reducing intake can lead to noticeable improvements within days to weeks
   • Can We Drink To Good Health?
10. Medication mindset: blood pressure medication is effective and essential for many people, but it doesn’t fix the underlying causes, so lifestyle changes are necessary for long-term control
    • See also: Statins: His & Hers?

For more on all of this, enjoy:

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Take care!