Know How to Reduce Your Blood Pressure

Some Facts:

• Heart disease is still the Number One killer of women.
• More the 50 million American have high blood pressure, and they have it for life. 15% of these people are aged 18-39 years.
• High blood pressure contributes to stroke, heart disease and kidney failure.
• High blood pressure can increase your risk of heart disease and stroke even before it reaches 140/90.

Take these steps to control your blood pressure for health.

1. Keep a healthy weight, exercise and stay active. Limit salt and sodium intake. If you use alcohol, do so only moderately.
2. Know your family history because high blood pressure runs in families. Your risk of high blood pressure increases as you age. African Americans also have more high blood pressure.
3. High blood pressure is called the Silent Killer because it often has no symptoms. Get tested regularly.
4. Stress increases high blood pressure, so manage stress effectively.
5. As your weight increases, so does your risk of high blood pressure. Count calories, exercise regularly and avoid fatty foods.
6. Exercise can reduce and prevent high blood pressure. Walking is just as good as running. 15 minutes a day can really help.
7. Eat right. Read labels to know what`s in the foods you buy.
8. Drinking alcohol can raise blood pressure. If you drink, have no more than two drinks a day. A drink is 1.5 ounces of 80 proof whiskey or 5 ounces of beer or wine.
9. Find out if you have high blood pressure. It can be very successfully treated with a combination of diet, exercise and medication.

For more information

• call 800-575-WELL