Know Your Numbers! Blood Pressure Awareness

September 04, 2026

Why This September, We're Talking Blood Pressure

7–13 September is Know Your Numbers Week - the UK's leading blood pressure testing and awareness campaign, run by the charity Blood Pressure UK.

It's a fair challenge. Most of us could tell you our age without pausing to think. Far fewer of us could tell you our blood pressure reading.

Why it matters more than you'd think

High blood pressure is sometimes called a "silent" condition, and for good reason - it very often causes no symptoms at all until it leads to something serious. That silence is exactly the problem: recent research from Blood Pressure UK found that a large share of UK adults don't currently know their reading, and a similar proportion don't check it regularly. Many people also believe, incorrectly, that high blood pressure comes with obvious warning signs.

The only way to know is to get checked. It takes minutes, it's usually free at pharmacies, GP surgeries, and dedicated "Pressure Stations" pop up around the country offering testing throughout the campaign. You can also purchase your own blood pressure monitor, recognised as an effective tool to log and report readings.

It's one of the simplest, most consequential things you can do for your long-term health.

So if you do one thing this September: get your blood pressure checked. Even if you feel completely well.

What you can do day-to-day

Getting tested is the essential first step. But blood pressure isn't fixed - it responds, over time, to a handful of everyday factors that are genuinely well studied. Here's why each one matters.

Move regularly

Exercise strengthens the heart muscle itself, meaning it doesn't have to work as hard to pump blood — which lowers the force on your artery walls over time. Regular activity also helps blood vessels stay more flexible and responsive, and tends to lower resting heart rate, another factor linked to blood pressure. You don't need intense exercise for this - brisk walking, cycling, or swimming a few times a week is well supported by the evidence. The effect builds gradually with consistency, not from a single workout.

Watch your salt intake

This is one of the most consistently evidenced dietary links to blood pressure. Extra sodium causes your body to retain more water, which increases the overall volume of blood your heart has to circulate, and more volume against artery walls means more pressure. Salt sensitivity varies quite a bit between individuals (genetics play a role here), which is partly why some people see a bigger blood pressure response to cutting salt than others. Even so, most of us in the UK eat considerably more salt than recommended, largely from processed and packaged food rather than the salt pot at home, it's often less about "don't add salt" and more about checking labels.

Manage stress, and prioritise sleep

Stress triggers a surge of hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, which temporarily raise heart rate and constrict blood vessels - a short-term spike most people can weather fine. The concern is when stress is chronic: sustained hormone elevation is linked to more persistently raised blood pressure over time. Sleep plays a related role -normally, blood pressure dips at night as part of a healthy daily rhythm, and poor or insufficient sleep can blunt that natural dip, keeping levels raised for longer than they should be. Neither of these is about eliminating stress entirely (unrealistic for most of us), it's about having some kind of regular outlet, and protecting sleep where you can.

Eat a varied, colourful diet

The clearest, most established angle here is potassium - found abundantly in fruit, vegetables, and legumes -which helps your body balance out sodium and ease tension in blood vessel walls. This is a big part of why diet patterns like DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), built around fruit, vegetables, wholegrains and lower sodium, have such a strong evidence base for blood pressure specifically.

Colourful fruits and vegetables are also rich in polyphenols and antioxidant compounds, and diets built around these foods - the Mediterranean-style pattern being the best-studied example - are consistently linked to better cardiovascular health outcomes more broadly. We'll be upfront that the research on any single compound (like the anthocyanins that give berries their deep colour) having a direct, standalone effect on blood pressure is still developing - with some promising outcomes - but isn’t settled science. What is well supported is the bigger picture: a genuinely varied, colourful diet, rich in potassium and plant compounds, is one of the more evidence-backed everyday habits for supporting healthy blood pressure over time.

The real goal this week

Diet and lifestyle are the long game. But this week is about the immediate, simple action: know your numbers. A reading takes a few minutes and could genuinely change the course of your health.