Smoking, excessive alcohol use, stress, being overweight, eating too much salt, and not getting enough exercise are all examples of lifestyle issues. Changes in your food and lifestyle can help decrease your blood pressure and reduce your risk of hypertension problems. For most people, their blood pressure is pretty stable throughout life. But about one in five adults over the age of 20 has high blood pressure, which is measured on the doctor's office machine as 140/90 or higher. People with high blood pressure beeped at frequent intervals during a visit to the doctor's office. The good news is that high blood pressure can often be controlled without requiring you to take drugs. In fact, many cases of mild to moderate elevated blood pressure can be cured by making simple changes in diet and lifestyle. Our bodies are very efficient at removing sodium from our systems. However, when the amount of sodium we eat each day exceeds our body's ability to remove it, then water retention, increased heart rate, and increased blood pressure result. Most adults need less than 3 grams of sodium per day, but some studies show that more than half of us consume more than this amount. Too much sodium can also cause kidney damage.