Did you know that 99.5 million American adults have high cholesterol numbers? Unless your cholesterol is dangerously high, it’s best to try to reduce it by altering your lifestyle. To control your cholesterol, maintain a healthy weight, exercise regularly and follow all your healthcare professional’s recommendations. What about blood pressure? Well, if you’re an adult and your blood pressure is 140/90 mm Hg or above, you have hypertension and are at risk for heart disease, stroke and other medical problems. See a doctor and learn how to manage your blood pressure and how often to have it checked. High blood pressure has no symptoms, so if you haven’t had it checked in a while, make an appointment now. One in four Americans has high blood pressure, and nearly one-third of them don’t know they have it. Medical science doesn’t understand why most cases of high blood pressure occur, so it’s hard to say how to prevent it. However, we do know of several factors that may contribute to high blood pressure and put you at increased risk for heart attack and stroke.

Controllable risk factors

Obesity -- People with a body mass index (BMI) of 30.0 or higher are more likely to develop high blood pressure.

Eating too much salt -- A high sodium intake increases blood pressure in some people.

Lack of physical activity -- An inactive lifestyle makes it easier to become overweight and increase the chance of high blood pressure.

We all know that physical activity is beneficial to us in many different ways. We at Healthy Changes are always here to answer questions regarding your physical fitness requirements. So, when you’re ready to start a new fitness program, we hope you will consider us, the friendly folks at Healthy Changes.