The risk of getting high blood pressure can be greatly reduced with four steps: Keep a healthy weight; become physically active; limit your salt and sodium use; and, if you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation — no more than one drink a day for women, and no more than two per day for men.

You are more likely to get high blood pressure if it runs in your family, but that doesn't mean you must get it. Your chance of getting high blood pressure also increases as you grow older, and is greater if you are an African-American. But high blood pressure is NOT an inevitable part of aging, and everyone can take steps to prevent the disease. The steps are given in answer 1.

About 15 percent of those aged 18-39 are among the 50 million Americans with high blood pressure. Once you are diagnosed with high blood pressure, you will need to closely monitor your blood pressure for the rest of your life. So start now to prevent it.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, usually has no symptoms. In fact, it is often called the "silent killer." You can have high blood pressure and feel fine. That's why it's important to have your blood pressure checked — it's a simple test.

Stress does make blood pressure go up, but only temporarily. Ups and downs in blood pressure are normal. Run for a bus and your pressure rises; sleep and it drops. Blood pressure is the force of blood against the walls of arteries. Blood pressure becomes dangerous when it's high most of the time. That harms your heart and blood vessels. So what does cause high blood pressure? In the vast majority of cases, a single cause is never found.

Having high blood pressure greatly increases a person's risk of having a stroke, heart disease and kidney failure, all of which can lead to premature death.

But you have even less risk of the serious complications of high blood pressure — particularly strokes and heart disease — if your blood pressure is lower than 140/90 mmHg. A pressure of less than 130/80 mmHg is a good reading, but 110/70 mmHg is even better.

As weight increases, so does blood pressure. It's important to stay at a healthy weight. If you need to reduce, try to lose 1/2 to 1 pound a week. Decrease total calories by eating less carbohydrates and fats. Especially avoid unhealthy types of fat (saturated fats and trans fatty acids) since fat is high in calories.

Studies show that even a little physical activity helps to prevent high blood pressure and strengthens your heart. Even among the overweight, those who are active have lower blood pressures than those who aren't. It's best to do some activity for 30 minutes or more every day. Even a brisk walk will do it. If you don't have a 30-minute period, do something for 15 minutes, twice a day. Every bit helps, so make activity part of your daily routine.

Americans eat way too much salt. And some people, such as many African-Americans, are especially sensitive to salt. Salt is made of sodium and chloride, and it's mostly the sodium that affects blood pressure. So you need to watch your use of both salt and salty foods, including processed foods such as lunch meats, cured meats, kosher meats, hot dogs, potato chips, corn chips, pretzels, crackers, salted nuts, frozen dinners, some salad dressings, cheese, pizza and pickles. Everyone, especially people with high blood pressure, should eat no more than about 6 grams of salt a day, which equals about 2,400 milligrams of sodium.

Drinking too much alcohol can raise blood pressure. If you drink, the best current recommendation is that men have no more than two drinks a day, and that women have no more than one drink a day. A drink would be 1.5 ounces of 80-proof whiskey, or 5 ounces of wine, or 12 ounces of beer.

There are several ways to lower blood pressure without taking a pill. Losing weight, eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, decreasing salt intake, exercising regularly, and limiting alcohol to less than two drinks per day can make a big difference in your blood pressure. Even if you are currently taking medication, making these healthy changes may allow your doctor to decrease the number and dosage of pills.