Remove your cause of mental tension or stress or worries. If the reason is your office, discuss the problem with your colleagues and seniors. Don t keep the problem with you. Mental tensions can often be reduced by a brisk walk, laugh loudly and relaxation or meditation. In fact, if you daily practice meditation, you can control your blood pressure for ever. Maintain your weight. Exercise more often. Since excess body fat is a primary risk factor in hypertension, it is important to maintain a healthy weight. Be physically active. Brisk walking, bicycling, raking leaves, and gardening are the best exercises. Follow a low fat diet. Eliminate cholesterol in your diet. Eliminate salt from your diet. Look at the salt content of tinned foods, snacks, potato chips, French fries, diet soft drinks, sauces, etc. These are high in salt, don t eat them. Do not eat foods that contain soda, sodium, Na, monosodium glutamate, baking soda and preservatives. Read the food labels carefully. With herbs, spices, garlic and onions, you can make your food tasty without salt. Restrict consumption of refined sugars. Read the lables and note different names of sugars. A high fiber diet is recommended. Increase intake of potassium, magnesium, calcium and vitamin C. Potassium rich foods include banana, orange, tangerine, beans, dried peas,potatoes, etc. Magnesium rich foods include almonds, cashews, pecans, rice, banana, potatoes, kidney beans, oat bran, peas, soy, wheat germ, etc. Calcium rich foods include low fat dairy foods, nuts, watercress, kale, broccoli, turnip greens, collard greens, mustard greens, etc. Garlic helps reduce blood pressure and cholesterol.