You can lower blood pressure through a combination of prescription medications, dietary changes, supplements, and exercise. Which approach is right depends on where your numbers fall: normal is below 120/80, elevated is 120-129 over less than 80, Stage 1 hypertension is 130-139 over 80-89, and Stage 2 is 140/90 or higher. For mildly elevated readings, lifestyle changes alone can bring meaningful results. For Stage 1 or Stage 2 hypertension, medication is often part of the plan.
Prescription Medications
Four classes of drugs are considered first-line treatments for high blood pressure: thiazide diuretics, ACE inhibitors, ARBs, and calcium channel blockers. Each works differently, and the one your doctor recommends will depend on your overall health, age, and whether you have other conditions like diabetes or kidney disease.
Thiazide diuretics help your kidneys flush out extra sodium and water, reducing the volume of fluid your blood vessels have to handle. ACE inhibitors and ARBs both target a hormone system that tightens blood vessels. ACE inhibitors block the production of a vessel-constricting chemical, while ARBs block it from attaching to blood vessel walls. The result is similar: your vessels relax and blood flows more easily. Calcium channel blockers work on the muscle cells in your artery walls, preventing them from squeezing as tightly.
Common side effects across these medications include dizziness, fatigue, headache, and nausea. ACE inhibitors are known for causing a dry cough in some people. If that happens, switching to an ARB often solves the problem since the two classes target the same system in slightly different ways. Other possible effects include diarrhea or constipation, skin rash, and erectile problems. Most side effects are mild and often improve after the first few weeks as your body adjusts.
Cutting Sodium, Adding Potassium
Sodium is the single biggest dietary lever for blood pressure. The 2025 high blood pressure guidelines recommend staying under 2,300 mg of sodium per day and moving toward an ideal limit of 1,500 mg per day. For context, a single fast-food meal can easily hit 1,500 mg on its own. The biggest sources are restaurant food, processed meats, canned soups, bread, and salty snacks. Reading nutrition labels and cooking more at home are the most reliable ways to get sodium under control.
Potassium works as sodium’s counterpart. The more potassium you eat, the more sodium your kidneys flush out through urine. Potassium also eases tension in blood vessel walls directly, giving you a two-for-one benefit. The American Heart Association recommends 3,500 to 5,000 mg of potassium daily, ideally from food rather than supplements. Good sources include bananas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach, beans, yogurt, and avocados. If you have kidney disease, talk to your doctor before increasing potassium intake, since your kidneys may not be able to clear the excess efficiently.
Exercise as a Blood Pressure Tool
Regular aerobic exercise can lower systolic blood pressure (the top number) by 4 to 10 points and diastolic (the bottom number) by 5 to 8 points. That’s comparable to what some medications achieve. Walking, cycling, swimming, and jogging all count. The key is consistency: those reductions come from sustained activity over weeks and months, not a single intense session.
Most guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity activity. That breaks down to about 30 minutes on most days. You don’t need to do it all at once. Three 10-minute walks spread through the day produce similar benefits. If your blood pressure is only mildly elevated, regular exercise alone may be enough to bring your numbers into a healthy range. For higher readings, it’s a powerful addition to medication.
Supplements Worth Considering
Magnesium is the supplement with the strongest evidence for blood pressure reduction. A large meta-analysis published in the American Heart Association’s journal Hypertension found that magnesium supplementation lowered systolic blood pressure by about 2.8 points and diastolic by about 2 points compared to placebo. The median dose across the studies was 365 mg of elemental magnesium daily, taken for a median of 12 weeks. That’s a modest reduction on its own, but it stacks with other changes.
Beetroot juice has gotten attention because it’s high in nitrates, which your body converts into nitric oxide, a molecule that relaxes blood vessels. Some trials have shown drops of around 5 points systolic after four weeks. However, the evidence is inconsistent. A randomized controlled trial comparing nitrate-rich beetroot juice to a nitrate-depleted version found no significant difference between the two groups, even though both groups saw blood pressure decreases. That suggests some of the benefit may come from other compounds in the juice or from a placebo effect. Beetroot juice is unlikely to cause harm, but don’t rely on it as your primary strategy.
How These Approaches Stack Together
The most effective approach for most people is layering several changes at once. Cutting sodium by a meaningful amount might shave 5 to 6 points off your systolic reading. Adding regular exercise could take off another 4 to 10 points. Getting enough potassium and magnesium contributes a few more. Together, these lifestyle shifts can produce reductions rivaling a single medication.
For people with Stage 1 hypertension (130-139/80-89), these changes are sometimes enough on their own. For Stage 2 hypertension (140/90 or higher), medication is typically necessary, but lifestyle changes still matter. They can allow you to take a lower dose, reduce side effects, and improve your overall cardiovascular health in ways that pills alone don’t address. Losing excess weight, limiting alcohol, managing stress, and getting adequate sleep all contribute additional, independent benefits to blood pressure.
Whatever combination you pursue, give it time. Blood pressure improvements from lifestyle changes generally take several weeks to fully appear. Track your numbers at home with a validated monitor so you can see the trend rather than reacting to any single reading.