A British study showed that 20 hypertensive people needed 37 minutes to finish a maths test that healthy controls banged out in 10. Stress made the difference; it’s hard to concentrate when the blood vessels in your head are throbbing like a bass drum. Those 20 people won’t be bungling arithmetic much past their 50s, though. Even slightly high blood pressure-say, a reading around 135/185mm Hg-can cut off your life span.

1 Eat your girlfriend’s breakfast
Have papaya and yoghurt; they’re high in potassium that helps control BP. A study with 2,600 subjects found that taking 2gm of potassium daily-eat a baked potato, a large banana and 250ml of milk-reduced BP by up to 4 points in five weeks.

2 Let her talk herself out
Arguing can cause your BP to skyrocket. But a study in Health Psychology found that during marital disagreements, men’s BP remained normal when they were calm. It rose when their persuasive skills were being judged, and they began yelling. Let her do the yelling; you keep the investments in your name.

3 Avoid extra stress in the morning
Men usually have heart attacks in the morning, and one reason is that your BP stays elevated by at least 15 points until about 11am. Try to avoid regular causes of stress in the morning. Schedule weekly staff meetings after lunch and straighten your desk every night so you won’t face a disaster site the next morning.

4 Drink more orange juice
In a British study of 541 adults, those with the highest blood levels of vitamin C had the lowest BP. Researchers believe that vitamin C helps blood vessels dilate. You can get your RDA of 60mg of vitamin C by eating broccoli, peppers and citrus fruits.

5 Reduce intake of pickled vegetables
One pickled cucumber contains 1.7gm of sodium. Studies have found that about half of all hypertensive men see a drop in BP when they reduce sodium intake, so it can’t hurt to keep yours below 2.4gm per day. Sodium may cause hypertension by adding fluid to blood and constricting artery walls.

6 Cut down on coffee
People had a 2-3 point rise in BP during the workday after they took caffeine pills that equated one cup of coffee at breakfast and one at lunch, according to a study at Duke University. If you won’t give up java, keep it to one cup.

7 Answer to one boss at a time
Avoiding job stress helps control BP. In a study of 195 men, reducing work stress lowered BP by 10 points in hypertensive men and by 5 points in men with normal BP. A common source of frustration is trying to please several supervisors, says study leader Peter Schnall, MD, of the University of California.

8 Go omega
When overweight study subjects ate 115gm of fish every day, their BP dropped by six points within four months. The protein and omega-3 fatty acids in fish help keep arteries elastic, says study author Trevor A Mori, PhD, of the University of Western Australia.

9 Have a cup of ice-cream
This gives you 150-200mg of calcium. A Japanese study found that hypertensive people who took a 1gm calcium supplement daily for eight weeks reduced their resting BP by 1-2 points. Calcium seems to help artery walls stay flexible. Drinking a few glasses of milk each day will help, too.

10 Do something really, really boring
A three-month study of 100 people found that those who meditated for 20 minutes daily lowered their average resting BP by 11 points after 12 weeks. Buy a fish tank; watching tropical fish may lower BP. Introduce a few predators and it will remind you of law school.
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