8 Natural Ways to Easily Lower Blood Pressure in 10 Minutes

If you have severe headaches, fatigue, irregular heartbeats, and chest pain, you may have high blood pressure.High blood pressure or hypertension. High blood pressure is a common disease of modern life, linked to stress, lack of sleep, obesity, smoking, alcohol abuse and consuming too much salty food. However, even if you are healthy, you can develop high blood pressure at some point in your life.

Our muscles become over-tense when we are physically or mentally stressed, while our blood vessels constrict at the same time. This leads to high blood pressure. Relaxing the blood vessels and muscles can significantly reduce blood pressure. But how do you relax your blood vessels and muscles? Fortunately, there are some simple techniques that can help you relax your blood vessels and muscles to control and lower your blood pressure in time.

According to the UK Department of Health, high blood pressure - also known as hypertension - is considered to be 140/90mmHg or higher.

Ideal blood pressure is considered to be between 90/60mmHg and 120/80mmHg.

Below is a collection of 8 effective ways to quickly reduce blood pressure that anyone should refer to, especially those with a history of high blood pressure.

1. Massage ears and neck

Lu Huns, doctor of Spartak Moscow football club, has come up with some interesting tips that will lower your blood pressure in just 5 minutes. It is neck and ear massage.

There are 3 points on your head and neck that can help you lower your blood pressure in minutes:

Find the first point behind your earlobe and draw an imaginary line down to the center of your collarbone – the second point. Using your fingers, gently massage your neck with soft strokes up and down this line. Repeat 10 times on both sides of your neck.

The third point is located on your face at earlobe height, about 1/2 inch above your ear. Massage it on each side with your fingers for about a minute in a counterclockwise circular motion.

Massaging these areas will relieve tension in your neck muscles and restore proper blood flow to the brain.

2. Practice breathing with the left nostril.

Deep left nostril breathing will help you control your blood pressure levels by relaxing your blood vessels and reducing stress hormones.

How to do:

- Sit on the floor or in a chair in a comfortable position with your back straight.

- Place your left hand on your stomach.

- Use your right hand to close your right nostril with your thumb.

- Take a deep breath in through your left nostril, hold for a few seconds, then exhale.

- Breathe slowly and deeply through the left nostril only for about 3-5 minutes.

3. Breathe like a bee

Bhramari pranayama, or hissing bee breathing, will help you relax instantly and get rid of headaches and migraines associated with hypertension.

How to do:

- Sit on the floor in a comfortable position with your back straight.

- Place your index fingers on the cartilage of both ears.

- Take a deep breath.

- As you exhale, make a buzzing sound, like a bee, and put slight pressure on your ear cartilage at the same time.

- Repeat this exercise 7-10 times.

4. Listen to classical music

Listening to soothing music like classical music can help lower your blood pressure, especially if you combine it with breathing exercises or meditation, according to researchers at the University of Florence in Italy. This works because this type of music has a calming effect on your body and reduces the stress hormone cortisol.

In part of the study, they asked 28 adults taking blood pressure medication to listen to classical, Celtic, or Indian music for 30 minutes a day, while breathing slowly.

After one week, listeners lowered their average systolic reading (the peak pressure when your heart beats) by 3.2 points. One month later, the reading had dropped 4.4 points.

Researchers believe that music that can help lower your blood pressure typically has very little change in volume or rhythm, doesn't have any lyrics, and has sections that are repeated at set intervals.

5. Drink a glass of water

In some cases, high blood pressure can be caused by dehydration. When you are dehydrated, the blood volume in your body decreases and your peripheral resistance, in turn, increases.

To avoid this, whenever you start to feel the symptoms of high blood pressure, try to drink a glass or two of pure water. This will help you restore a full blood volume in your body and reduce your blood pressure.

6. Relax in savasana pose

Savasana – the corpse pose – can help lower your heart rate and lower your blood pressure significantly. Simply lie on your back, close your eyes, and try to relax every muscle in your body. Rest in this pose for about 10-15 minutes and you will feel better by the end of it. Besides bringing your blood pressure back to normal, it will also help balance your nervous system very effectively.

7. Soak your feet in hot water

Soaking your feet in really hot but bearable water can help keep your head and neck cool and stop the blood from rushing to your brain. It’s super simple, just take a bucket or basin and fill it with hot water. Then sit in a chair and put your feet in the water for 10-15 minutes. The blood will move from your head to your feet, and your blood pressure will gradually return to normal.

Some lifestyle changes that can help prevent high blood pressure:

- Reduce the amount of salt you eat and eat a healthy diet in general

- Cut down on alcohol if you drink too much.

- Lose weight if you are overweight

- Exercise regularly

- Cut down on caffeine

- Quit smoking

- Try to get at least 6 hours of sleep a night

An easy exercise to control your blood pressure

Isometric handgrip exercises—contracting and releasing your hand muscles as you squeeze a stress ball—can help improve the flexibility of your blood vessels and their ability to relax. Do the exercises for about 12–15 minutes three times a week. After one month, your blood pressure should drop by 10%.

Additionally, a Harvard study found that patients with high blood pressure who walked briskly were able to lower their blood pressure. This is because exercise helps the heart use oxygen more efficiently so it doesn't have to work as hard to pump blood.

A vigorous cardiovascular exercise of at least 30 minutes on most days can help reduce pressure.