The chief treatment for high blood pressure is changing your lifestyle in ways that help lower your blood pressure:

• Don’t use tobacco products.
• Lose weight if you’re overweight.
• Exercise regularly.
• Eat a healthy diet that includes lots of fruits and vegetables and is low in fat.
• Limit your sodium, alcohol and caffeine intake.
• Learn to better manage stress.

If lifestyle changes alone don’t work, you may also need to take medication. Several types of medications are available to help lower blood pressure:

• Diuretics increase urinary output, lowering the amount of fluid in the body.
• Beta blockers help the heart beat slower and pump less blood.
• ACE inhibitors open vessels wider by blocking vasoconstriction.
• Angiotensin II receptor blockers relax blood vessels.
• Calcium channel blockers widen vessels by blocking smooth muscle activity.
• Alpha blockers reduce sympathetic nerve impulses that tighten blood vessels.
• Alpha-beta blockers work like alpha blockers and also slow the heartbeat.
• Central acting inhibitors block the brain’s tendency to increase blood pressure.
• Vasodilators prevent muscles in the vessels from tightening.