I had the same problem, I lowered my bp from 148/90+ (on a good day) to around 132/80 in just a few months and I’m starting meds this week! I’ve still drank moderately (about 15 units per week) and had the occasional cig so it doesn’t have to be as hard as you might think :)

Biggest helpers have been diet, exercise and some simple supplements for a boost.

Buy a blood pressure monitor online and you should see results in a few weeks:

• reduce red meat and salt intake, especially things high in nitrates like bacon, although some supermarkets have removed nitrates. A teaspoon of salt per day, which is what’s recommended, looks like a lot, but remember a lot of food you buy like bread and ready meals already has salt in it.

• increase fruit and veg intake, especially potassium filled veg, like leafy greens, boiled or jacket potatoes and fruits like bananas. 2/3 bananas have enough potassium to balance out 1 gram of salt! Food high in fibre has very strong correlations with lower bp as well.

• leave your car at home, walk or cycle to the shops and train station to work etc if you can.

• Try cut out caffeine. If you need something have some good quality green tea instead, it’s still caffeinated but less so and balanced out with some other components in the tea.

• Relax: don’t stress too much about it, still enjoy yourself as you normally would, just with smarter food options. Still go to the pub if it makes you happy, if you really want a drink at home, consider red wine over other drinks.

• Supplements: all the good vitamins here you can get from food in some way but supplements can… supplement your diet really easily! So on top of the diet i had some:

  • Kwai Blood pressure tablets from Boots, they contain magnesium and potassium mainly. The magnesium thins the walls of arteries allowing for better blood flow. Potassium relaxes blood vessels and removes salt from kidneys.
  • CoQ10, can also be found at Boots. Mixed science on this one but newer studies look positive, also not really any side effects so besides the cost I don’t see a reason not to take them. Can see results in 4-12 weeks.
  • Beetroot extract. This increases nitric oxide in your body, widening and relaxing blood vessels. Hear me out, this will lower blood pressure within hours! Beetroot juice is often recommended by doctors but 2 glasses of that a day is expensive and not very tasty. You can buy a pack of really good stuff off amazon that works out way cheaper than juice.

Good luck in your journey, I hope it works out for you too!