How can high blood pressure be treated?

Lifestyle Changes to Treat High Blood Pressure

A critical step in preventing and treating high blood pressure is a healthy lifestyle. You can lower your blood pressure with the following lifestyle changes:

Losing weight if you are overweight or obese
Quitting smoking
Eating a healthy diet, including the DASH diet (eating more fruits, vegetables, and low fat dairy products, less saturated and total fat)
Reducing the amount of sodium in your diet to less than 1,500 milligrams a day if you have high blood pressure; healthy adults should try to limit their sodium intake to no more 2,300 milligrams a day (about 1 teaspoon of salt).
Getting regular aerobic exercise (such as brisk walking at least 30 minutes a day, several days a week)
Limiting alcohol to two drinks a day for men, one drink a day for women
In addition to lowering blood pressure, these measures enhance the effectiveness of high blood pressure drugs.

Drugs to Treat High Blood Pressure

There are several types of drugs used to treat high blood pressure, including:

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors
Angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs)
Diuretics
Beta-blockers
Calcium channel blockers
Alpha-blockers
Alpha-agonists
Renin inhibitors
Combination medications