• Reducing the amount of salt you use: a daily intake less than 2.4 grams of salt will have an almost immediate lowering effect on your blood pressure
• Eating a healthy diet
• Exercising
• Avoiding caffeine and cigarettes
• Drinking 1 glass or less of alcohol per day if you’re a woman, 2 glasses or less per day if you’re a man

We know that hypertension, not controlled, is a significant risk factor for heart disease and stroke. The question of fluctuating blood pressure is interesting. A person’s blood pressure does fluctuate during the day depending on your activity level. During exercise the blood pressure may rise as high as 230 mm on the systolic and 100-110 mm on the diastolic. However, this will return to the normal range as soon as the exercise stops. And while you are asleep, the blood pressure may go lower than normal, which is normal.

There are cases when fluctuating blood should be of concern. If someone is not taking their blood pressure medications correctly, this can lead to fluctuations. Also, there are medical illnesses that can lead to fluctuating blood pressure (i.e. Pheochromocytoma, Diabetes, and Autonomic nervous system diseases). The amount of time that blood pressure is elevated also increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. There is a study in the Archives of Neurology, May 2010, demonstrating that persons with high blood pressure who had large fluctuations in their pressures were at increased risk of Stroke and other cerebrovascular diseases.

So, I would recommend that if you are suffer from hypertension, whether continuous or fluctuating, that you seek medical treatment to prevent further injury to your body.