Acting On the News

Once you understand your hypertension diagnosis, you should commit to making changes in your lifestyle in order to improve your condition. Start by taking a closer look at your everyday life. During the day, when do you feel most relaxed? When do you feel most stressed? How does your body feel during those times? What sort of foods do you eat? What's your activity level like? Be honest, because anything other than the truth will only hurt your health.

To keep yourself honest, start a "lifestyle diary" and write down your answers to these questions. Once you've pinpointed some of your risk factors, you're halfway to changing or eliminating habits and situations that could be feeding into your blood pressure levels. Over the next few weeks, we'll help you change or at least reduce those habits.

You don't have to think your high blood pressure controls you. Remember this is your life and you make many of the decisions that affect your health. You've already started educating yourself on your condition. You are in control and you can lower your blood pressure.