A healthy lifestyle can reduce your risk for high blood pressure, keep your blood pressure stable, and, most important, reduce your risk for conditions such as a stroke or heart or kidney disease. Some of the ways you can lead a healthy lifestyle include:

• Exercise regularly
• Eat a balanced diet
• Drink lots of water
• Avoid alcohol
• Monitor cholesterol levels
• Avoid illegal drugs
• Recognize and treat diabetes
• Stop smoking
• Get regular checkups

Sometimes blood pressure remains high even when a person makes these kinds of healthy changes. Sometimes high blood pressure is hereditary or the result of other conditions. In some cases, there is no explanation for the condition.

When you have high blood pressure, it’s important to monitor it. Sometimes your doctor will prescribe medicine to help lower your blood pressure. Blood pressure medicines work in different ways to lower blood pressure. Some remove extra fluid and salt from your body (diuretics). Others slow down the heartbeat (beta blockers) or relax and widen blood vessels.

• Diuretics are sometimes called "water pills." They work by helping your kidneys flush excess water and salt from your body. This reduces the amount of fluid in your blood, and your blood pressure goes down. There are different types of diuretics. They are often used along with other high blood pressure medicines and may be combined with another medicine in one pill.
• Beta blockers help your heart beat more slowly and with less force. Your heart pumps less blood through the blood vessels, and your blood pressure goes down.

It is important that you take your blood pressure medication the same time each day.

Other medications exist for treating high blood pressure. Be sure to speak with your doctor about these, or any other high blood pressure treatments.

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