Eat less salt

Research shows that too much salt causes a rise in blood pressure, and the more salt you eat, the higher the rise. A US study found that cutting salt by a third reduced blood pressure in people with both high and normal blood pressure. Most of us eat twice as much salt as we need – around 10-12g daily, when we should be aiming for 5-6g or less. So replace salt in cooking with herbs and spices for flavour and avoid processed food, which accounts for 75% of the salt in our diet. Other high-salt food includes bread, some breakfast cereals, processed meat such as sausages and bacon, soups, ready-prepared meals and takeaways. Check labels for the sodium or salt content, or for other sodium molecules like monosodium glutamate or sodium bicarbonate. To work out the sodium content, divide the salt content by two and a half, low sodium is 0 3g per 100g or under.

Become more active

Research shows that exercise can prevent or delay the development of hypertension and reduce high blood pressure. As well as lowering blood pressure, exercise will help to strengthen your heart, reduce levels of harmful LDL cholesterol and help boost beneficial HDL cholesterol.

Maintain a healthy weight

Being overweight makes your circulatory system and your heart work harder and raises blood pressure. Research shows that if you are overweight, losing just 10lbs can help reduce blood pressure and make medication more effective.

Eat seven to nine servings of fruit and vegetables every day

The Blood Pressure Association says we should eat more than the standard five portions a day of fruit and veg as, besides helping to protect arteries against a build-up of fatty deposits, they ' re a rich source of potassium (particularly bananas, dried fruit, melons and avocados), which helps lower blood pressure.

Drink sensibly

It's not yet clear how alcohol affects blood pressure, but we do know drinking large amounts causes it to rise. Women should have no more than two or three units daily, avoid binge drinking and spread their alcohol consumption through the week.

Manage your stress

The link between stress and high blood pressure is still unclear – stress certainly causes a transient increase in blood pressure, but the question of whether chronic stress contributes to hypertension remains controversial. However, research by Canadian scientists has shown that stress management counselling helped to reduce blood pressure in both men and women with hypertension.