The Best Time To Eat Breakfast If You Have High Blood Pressure

People can experience high blood pressure for many reasons, including the medications they take, their habits, and genetics. Yet regardless of why you have high blood pressure, you can sometimes reduce it by implementing new lifestyle choices, like re-evaluating whether and when you eat breakfast.

Because breakfast is the first time your body receives nourishment in many hours, your system diverts your blood toward the digestive processes. This frequently causes a drop (albeit temporary) in blood pressure. This can matter if you're hypertensive, as blood pressure typically goes up while you're sleeping and generally continues until dinner time. By eating sooner after you wake, you may be able to push down rising blood pressure readings. At that point, you can try to hold them at a decreased status throughout the day by practicing other antihypertensive strategies like eating fiber-filled snacks and exercising.

To get a broader picture of the connection between breakfast and blood pressure, Health Digest contacted Dr. Chris Mohr, Fitness and Nutrition Advisor for Barbend. Mohr talked more about the body's physical responses to eating, as well as gave his recommendations for how to organize your breakfast schedule.

Mohr said not to worry about eating at a specific time in the morning. Instead, he suggested getting yourself in a breakfast-eating rhythm (e.g., eating breakfast every day) so your system regularly has to shuttle blood to your stomach and potentially cause transiently lower blood pressure.

"Blood pressure itself can be affected by meal timing and what's in the meal," Mohr said. "When your body follows a regular pattern, including consistent meal times, it can better manage physiological processes like blood pressure regulation." For this reason, he discouraged skipping any meal, including breakfast. He added that bypassing meals could create an electrolyte imbalance and further exacerbate high blood pressure.

In a 2019 review in the Journal of Cardiovascular Development and Disease, researchers found that those who typically avoided breakfasts increased their chances of being diagnosed with or dying from cardiovascular disease by 21%. Similarly, a 2021 review in Nutrients identified possible cardio-metabolic advantages among people who fasted for 12 to 16 hours overnight.

You may be able to see even more positive cardiovascular effects if you both eat breakfast and avoid snacking late at night, as well as engage in fasting. In a 2023 review published in Nutrients, human subjects who simulatenously restricted their calories and fasted overnight experienced a drop in their diastolic blood pressure readings. The researchers hypothesized that this was because a hormone that controls fat burning is most active between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. By eating in the morning when the hormone was stimulated, participants kept their bodies from holding on to fat, therefore causing a reduction in blood pressure. 

What's the biggest takeaway? You can technically eat breakfast at any time that works for your schedule, as long as you're eating it nearly every day without interruption. In response, you may start to experience more normal blood pressure readings over time.

Of course, the food you eat after fasting overnight can help you tame your hypertension, too. Mohr provided a few antihypertensive breakfast options to consider, starting with oatmeal. "A bowl of oatmeal is a great choice as it's a whole grain that can manage blood pressure and cholesterol," he noted. "Enhancing it with sliced bananas and ground flaxseed adds quality nutrients, such as potassium, fiber, and even some omega-3 fatty acids."

If you're not into oatmeal or want to alternate it between other breakfast favorites, Mohr offered a few additional considerations, like yogurt with berries. Just be sure to grab the right kind of yogurt. "Look for low-fat or even plain Greek yogurt as it's rich in protein, calcium, and potassium. Adding berries can introduce a flavorful antioxidant boost beneficial for heart health, along with more potassium, which is important for managing blood pressure." Mohr added that avocado toast or a spinach and mushroom omelet could do the trick to help your body's digestion, give you loads of energy, and offer minerals vital for blood pressure maintenance.