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Knowing your numbers |
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The most important things to know when trying to live a healthy life are these numbers:
Blood Pressure – 120/80 is considered normal
Blood pressure is the force of your blood pushing against the walls of your arteries. Each time your heart beats, it pumps out blood into the arteries. Your blood pressure is highest when your heart beats, pumping the blood. This is called systolic pressure. When your heart is at rest, between beats, your blood pressure falls. This is the diastolic pressure.
| Your blood pressure reading uses these two numbers, the systolic and diastolic pressures. Usually they are written one above or before the other. A reading of
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| 120/80 or lower is normal blood pressure |
| 140/90 or higher is high blood pressure |
| 120 and 139 for the top number, or between 80 and 89 for the bottom number is prehypertension |
High blood pressure usually has no symptoms, but it can cause serious problems such as stroke,heart failure, heart attack and kidney failure. You can control high blood pressure through healthy lifestyle habits and taking medicines, if needed.
NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
| Cholesterol |
total cholesterol should be <200mg/dl High density lipoprotein (HDL) should be 60mg/dl or higher Low density lipoprotein (LDL) should be <40mg/dl for men/<50mg/dl for women |
| Blood sugar |
fasting blood sugar <100 mg/dl; prediabetes is between 101 and 125 mg/dl |
| Weight |
is difficult to assess unless you know other things like height and the other numbers listed here; however, refer to the link for more information |
| Body mass index |
18.5 to 24.9 (see link for calculator)
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Leading Causes of Death in the USA
| Number of deaths for leading causes of death
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| Heart disease: 616,067 |
| Cancer: 562,875 |
| Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 135,952 |
| Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 127,924 |
| Accidents (unintentional injuries): 123,706 |
| Alzheimer's disease: 74,632 |
| Diabetes: 71,382 |
| Influenza and Pneumonia: 52,717 |
| Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 46,448 |
| Septicemia: 34,828 |
Source: Deaths: Final Data for 2007, table B
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