I'm a programmer so I sit around a lot and I don't get out to the gym as much as I ought to. I'm also kind of a worry-wart so that can have a pretty big effect on the blood pressure too.

I hadn't been out to the gym for about 3 weeks and I expected my blood pressure to be pretty high. Funny thing, it wasn't.

As I sat there taking my pressure, I would take a deep breath, hold it and then blow out slowly. That gets the pressure down so I can get a realistic reading. The first time is always a little high, so I do it a second time.

The first time it was 137/93 the second time it was 111/83! Breathing is excellent for high blood pressure.

The thing is that breating is excellent, not only for blood pressure, but stress related problems too.

Another thing I do is drink plenty of liquids. Water is an excellent diuretic, and there are almost no side effects (unless you drink too much -- which can cause you to lose nutrients). What lots of people don't realize is that salt has a great effect on the blood pressure. What happens when you lose liquids is that you also lose salt.

The more water you drink the less water your body retains. The less salt, the lower the blood pressure. Sometimes it's hard to control your intake of salt and up goes the pressure.

Not to worry! There has never been a study linking salt intake to heart disease. The problem is more likely clogged arteries. So if you get too much salt just drink plenty of liquids and you'll lose it.

Another thing that causes blood pressure problems is those triglicerides. That's a kind of fat in the blood. I have had a tendency to have a high trigliceride count.

One thing that helps desolve the triglicerides in your blood is apple juice! But since most apple juice from the store is full of sugar, I mix it with my water. I don't like to drink water, so I put 1/4 part apple juice to 3/4 part water and it's easy to drink. I just sit an sip on it all day long from my desk. That way I get the benefit of the water and the apple juice.

But try not to drink more than 2 cups of apple juice a day, it's got a lot of sugar and it can be fattening for some people.

I think that something else that helps disolve the fats are apple cider vinegar and green tea.
Try substituting your coffee for green tea. Also a "little" apple cider vinegar mixed with water in the morning. It helps in digestion and a lot of other things too.

Some pretty cheep but effective and easy ways to control the blood pressure: air and water!