Blood Pressure and Relaxation
It's well known that stress negatively affects blood pressure. To lower high blood pressure readings, it's therefore important to avoid stress and make time to relax.
The simplest thing is to slow down a bit in everyday life. But that's often the hardest part. Amid all the work-related, maybe family, or just daily stress, your own health is the thing that suffers. People often forget how important taking time out is times when you look after yourself and do something good for yourself. That could be exercise, a relaxed get-together with friends or family, pursuing a hobby, a relaxing spa day, or something similar. Unfortunately, in a hectic everyday life this is often hard to achieve or only possible to a limited extent.
But especially when stress is high, it's very important to create small pockets of relaxation in your daily routine. Targeted relaxation exercises don't have to take much time but can bring great benefit.
There are various guides for this for example 10-minute relaxation exercises or short forms of well-known relaxation techniques.
You can also choose from various teachable relaxation methods such as autogenic training, yoga, progressive muscle relaxation (Jacobson), tai chi, qigong and the like. Targeted breathing exercises can also promote relaxation. Learning a relaxation technique makes it easier to build a small pocket of relaxation into everyday life, because practice makes perfect. Once a technique is established, it's easy to use a shortened version during the day for example in stressful situations. That helps you keep a cool head and prevents your blood pressure from rising dangerously.
These relaxation exercises not only lower your blood pressure but also improve your overall wellbeing, which in turn has a positive effect on your whole body.
In April 2025 a study was published that compared the effects of different relaxation techniques on blood pressure. The evaluation period of three months was relatively short, but it still showed interesting changes in systolic blood pressure. On average, it decreased by:
In April 2025 a study was published that compared the effects of different relaxation techniques on blood pressure. The evaluation period of three months was relatively short, but it still showed interesting changes in systolic blood pressure. On average, it decreased by:
| Intervention | Reduction (mmHg) |
|---|---|
| Mindfulness | -9.90 |
| Psychotherapy | -9.83 |
| Meditative movements (e.g. Yoga) | -9.58 |
| Meditation | -7.71 |
| Progressive muscle relaxation | -7.46 |
| Multicomponent interventions | -6.78 |
| Breathing exercises | -6.65 |
| Music | -6.61 |
Whether these blood pressure reductions are maintained at the same level over longer periods was not examined in the study. However, it nicely shows that it doesn't matter much which relaxation technique best fits your personal preferences each one produces a benefit.
Sources:
This article comes from BloodPressureDB – the leading app since 2011 that helps hundreds of thousands of people monitor their blood pressure every day.
Our content is based on carefully researched, evidence-based information and is continuously updated (as of 12/2025).
Author Sabine Croci is a certified medical assistant with many years of experience in internal medicine and cardiology practices as well as in outpatient care. Since 2015 she has led the editorial team at BloodPressureDB. With additional qualifications as a paramedic, first responder, and training in various therapy and emergency areas, she provides well-founded, practical, and reliably reviewed information.
Author Sabine Croci is a certified medical assistant with many years of experience in internal medicine and cardiology practices as well as in outpatient care. Since 2015 she has led the editorial team at BloodPressureDB. With additional qualifications as a paramedic, first responder, and training in various therapy and emergency areas, she provides well-founded, practical, and reliably reviewed information.
Relaxation for High Blood Pressure
The Relaxation Guide from BloodPressureDB
That sounds great, but if you're already stressed you probably have hardly any time to deal with it.
So we approached our guide differently. We show simple tools that help you manage stress better in the long run.
- Quickly find out which relaxation style fits you.
- Try the exercises that match your style.
- The many illustrations make it easy and quick.
Finally: stress relief without the stress
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"Relaxation for High Blood Pressure" is now only available as an eBook in PDF format for the low price of 9.90.
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