Once we get past thirty years of age most of us would like to become a bit fitter, and may be even improve our general health. There are many ways of improving your health but one of the best methods is to have your blood pressure checked out regularly. As you probably know blood pressure is the pressure of your blood within the arteries, the vessels that carry the blood from your heart and around your body.

This pressure changes throughout the day and can be affected by many different factors, such as the time of day, mealtimes, over excitement, anxiousness, exercise, anger, frolicking with the neighbour even, and smoking, among many others.

When blood pressure is gauged you receive two different readings. The first one is always higher and is known as the systolic pressure. This is the blood pressure as your heart beats and pushes blood around your body. The second reading is called the diastolic pressure and this is the blood pressure as your heart relaxes between beats.

So what is high blood pressure? This condition is also known as hypertension and it is where the pressure is higher than normal. In most folks there is no known cause for high blood pressure but experts will usually link it to your lifestyle.

In Great Britain perhaps surprisingly up to one in three adults experiences high blood pressure, and as we get older it is a condition that more of us are likely to have. In people over 75 years of age half of the population will be suffering from high blood pressure and these people usually fall into the following categories. Family history of high blood pressure, not doing enough exercise, being of Asian or African descent, being overweight, drinking alcoholic drinks to more than the recommended maximum level, following a high salt diet, or not eating sufficient fruit and vegetables.

High blood pressure causes no symptoms in most people so it is perfectly possible to feel fine but still suffer from it, so the only way to find out is to have your blood pressure checked regularly.

If you don't, and if it is left untreated high pressure can lead to narrowing of the arteries and the higher the blood pressure is, the greater the risk you run of developing narrowed arteries, that in turn can lead to heart problems and strokes. It can also damage other vital organs such as kidneys and eyes.

But there is good news for you if this is a problem that plagues you. High blood pressure can normally be decreased by making changes to the way you live your life, such as losing some weight and addressing your poor diet. And don't think that becoming more active means that you must take vigorous exercise turning yourself into a gym monster, not a bit of it, everyday activities such as walking, gardening, cycling and swimming can all improve your blood pressure and thereby your general health.

And when you successfully reduce your blood pressure you are helping to reduce the risk of having a heart attack and suffering from strokes in the future. So next time you buy that extra beer or another bottle of wine, perhaps you should think twice about it. Ask yourself this, when did you last have your blood pressure checked? Before 2005? Before 2003? Sometime last century? Perhaps it's time to pay a visit to your doctor. Get it checked, you won't regret it, ever.