High blood pressure

In this series

8 Blood Pressure Myths, Debunked

The truth behind the foods, drinks and habits that can affect your numbers

Rachel Nania,

Updated April 30, 2026

AARP

Medically reviewed by

Merle Myerson, M.D.

En español

Updated April 30, 2026

coffee cup with a blood pressure monitor divided by a lightning bolt

AARP (Source: Shutterstock(2))

Key takeaways

High blood pressure often has no symptoms, so many people don’t know they have it until damage has already begun.
Swapping sea salt or Himalayan salt for table salt does not lower sodium intake or blood pressure.
Lifestyle habits like diet, activity, weight control and stress management still matter, even when taking medication.

Nearly half of all U.S. adults and more than 70 percent of those over the age of 60 have high blood pressure, putting them at increased risk for heart disease and stroke. And a big problem? Many of them don’t even know they have it.

That’s because, unlike a lot of health conditions, hypertension — anything above a reading of 130/80 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) — doesn’t always have warning signs or symptoms. “They call it a silent killer for that reason,” says Dr. Luke Laffin, codirector of the Center for Blood Pressure Disorders at the Cleveland Clinic.

The idea that you’ll have symptoms of high blood pressure before you can do anything about it is a common myth, Laffin says. Here’s a look at eight more blood pressure myths, plus tips you can use to maintain a healthy blood pressure.

Myth 1: Some salts don’t raise blood pressure like table salt does

Salt can significantly raise your blood pressure. When you eat too much salt, your blood pressure can shoot up because your body retains extra fluid to dilute the sodium. All that fluid in your blood vessels increases the pressure and makes your heart work harder. Salt can also contribute to a stiffening of your arteries that prevents them from widening when they carry blood, resulting in a narrower blood vessel. Over time, the American Heart Association says, this may cause your blood pressure to increase.

No surprise, then, that people with high blood pressure are often advised to eat a low-sodium diet. And many think swapping table salt for sea salt or Himalayan salt can help them lower their sodium intake.

Not so fast. “It’s still sodium chloride, and it’s still an issue,” says Dr. Sandra Taler, a nephrologist and professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic.

The importance of lowering sodium intake

Newer randomized trials show that reducing sodium intake can lower systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading) within days — even among people already taking blood pressure medication. Recent guidelines also acknowledge that potassium-based salt substitutes may help some people lower blood pressure. However, those substitutes are not safe for everyone, including people with kidney disease and people who take medications that make it harder for your kidneys to get rid of extra potassium. These medications include a group of blood pressure and heart drugs called RAAS blockers.

“When it comes to blood pressure, it all just comes down to milligrams of sodium more than anything else — and it’s all bad for raising blood pressure,” Laffin adds.

Federal dietary guidelines recommend no more than 2,300 milligrams a day of sodium — that’s about 1 teaspoon of table salt — but the American Heart Association suggests adults ideally should have no more than 1,500 mg a day.

Still, most Americans get way more: about 3,400 mg per day, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Heart Association.

All that sodium isn’t coming from just the saltshaker. In fact, the majority comes from processed and packaged foods, which is why you should read food labels for sodium content.

Taler says many people aren’t aware that something as ordinary as bread can be a major source of sodium. Pizza, sandwiches, soups and cheese are also high in sodium.

Myth 2: Cutting coffee can lower blood pressure

It’s true that you may not want to drink a cup of coffee right before your blood pressure is taken. Caffeine can cause a temporary rise in blood pressure, leading to an inaccurate reading. But for most people, drinking coffee doesn’t have a long-term effect on blood pressure.

Still, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology recommend limiting your daily caffeine intake to 300 mg per day and skipping it altogether if your blood pressure isn’t under control.

Myth 3: Red wine is good for the heart and doesn’t raise your blood pressure

One thing that will cause your blood pressure to rise in both the short and long term is alcohol, including red wine.

According to the Mayo Clinic, heavy drinkers who cut back to just one drink a day for women and two for men can lower their systolic pressure by about 5.5 mm Hg and their diastolic pressure (the bottom number in a blood pressure reading) by about 4 mm Hg.

Newer guidelines increasingly recommend avoiding alcohol altogether to control blood pressure, since even light to moderate drinking has been linked to measurable increases in blood pressure.

Choose fresh fruits like grapes and blueberries to get the heart-healthy flavonoids in red wine without risking the alcohol-related blood pressure effects.

Myth 4: You’re destined to get high blood pressure if it runs in your family

Not necessarily. “You’re not destined to have anything. But it does put you at higher risk for developing hypertension in the future,” Laffin says.

Recent studies show that even people with high genetic risk can significantly reduce their chances of developing hypertension through healthy lifestyle habits.

Laffin’s advice: Work on delaying — even preventing — a diagnosis so maybe you don’t have to take blood pressure medications or you can take fewer. “Things that you do from a lifestyle perspective can help with that,” Laffin says. This includes maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, not smoking and eating a heart-healthy diet.

Myth 5: You need to lose a lot of weight to lower blood pressure

When it comes to weight loss, it doesn’t take much to start lowering your blood pressure, Taler says. Even a little weight loss can move the needle.

Expect your blood pressure to drop by roughly 1 mm Hg for every 2.2 pounds of weight lost, according to updated guidance from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. That can have the same impact as taking a single blood pressure medication for some individuals, particularly when combined with dietary changes and physical activity.

Myth 6: I take blood pressure medication, so I don’t need to make lifestyle changes

Just because you take medication to lower your blood pressure doesn’t mean you should toss healthy diet and exercise habits out the window. “They essentially provide synergistic benefits,” Laffin says.

Take salt, for example. “If you’re on a high-sodium diet, the effect of certain blood pressure medication classes, like ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers, is not nearly as pronounced as if you’re on a low-sodium diet,” he says. “Really, they go hand in hand.”

Myth 7: My blood pressure is coming down, so I can stop taking my medication

Don’t stop taking your blood pressure medicine unless your doctor tells you to. Your medication isn’t curing your hypertension; it’s only helping to regulate it. If you stop taking it, your blood pressure will probably rise again.

For some, blood pressure can rise quickly — and occasionally rebound to higher than previous levels — after stopping certain medications, particularly if they are stopped suddenly.

While lifestyle changes may return blood pressure to normal levels for some, others may need to remain on their medications. Any medication changes should be discussed with your doctor.

Myth 8: I’m young so I don’t need to worry about my blood pressure

Unfortunately, being young won’t prevent you from having high blood pressure. In fact, the latest numbers from the CDC show that more than 25 percent of Americans ages 18 to 39 have hypertension. If you start practicing good heart habits while you’re young, you might be able to prevent high blood pressure when you get older.

Additionally, high blood pressure in young adulthood is linked to vital organ damage by midlife, earlier heart and kidney damage, and a higher lifetime risk of heart attack and stroke.

The truth about stress and blood pressure

Find yourself in a stressful situation? Chances are you’ll find your blood pressure rising — but only temporarily. That’s because your body releases stress hormones that can cause your blood vessels to constrict and your heart to beat faster. When the stress reaction goes away, your blood pressure will return to normal levels, the American Heart Association says.

Chronic stress, however, has been increasingly linked to long-term high blood pressure and higher cardiovascular risk. “So making sure we have systems in place to deal with that, or at least strategies to deal with that, can be important," Laffin says.

A 2023 study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that adults who practiced mindfulness had significantly lower systolic blood pressure numbers six months later, compared with adults who didn’t.

Anger can also bring some heart risks, research suggests. A separate study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that brief bouts of anger had a negative impact on blood vessel function in healthy adults.

The takeaway, says Dr. Glenn Levine, director of the cardiac care unit at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center and professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, is that your heart health is affected not just by traditional factors like diet and exercise but also by factors like stress, anger and depression.

“If you feel that you have more than the normal amount of those, or that you don’t deal well with them, it is worthwhile to discuss them with a mental health professional. And this may help you not only mitigate or control those negative psychological factors but, as a bonus, it may contribute to your overall heart health, at least a little bit,” says Levine, who is also a volunteer expert with the American Heart Association.

Recent hypertension guidelines now explicitly include stress management as part of recommended lifestyle therapy for high blood pressure, alongside diet, physical activity and weight management. This reinforces the idea that mental and emotional health play a measurable role in blood pressure control.

The key takeaways were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.

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Rachel Nania is an award-winning health editor and writer at AARP.org, who covers a range of topics including diseases and treatments.

Dr. Merle Myerson is a board-certified cardiologist with specialties in sports medicine, lipids, women’s health and prevention of cardiovascular disease.