It’s NCAA college basketball tournament time again and the "March Madness" can make your heart rate and blood pressure rise. This is especially true if you are watching your favorite team in a close game or sitting there helpless as a bracket-busting mid-major team ousts your championship pick in the first round. While this elevation in blood pressure is temporary, for sports fans there may be no better time to think about the lasting effects that chronic high blood pressure can have on your health, effects that may include kidney failure, heart disease, stroke, and early death.

The American Heart Association (AHA) has come up with a series of tips for ways to help control your high blood pressure at any time of the year. Follow these 10 tips and the AHA says you may be able to lower your high blood pressure to a healthier level:

• Know your blood pressure. Have it checked regularly or buy a reliable monitor to check it yourself at home.
  
• Know your ideal weight. Maintain your body weight in healthy range that is near the ideal.
  
• Skip the salt. Don't add extra salt salt to your meals and avoid foods with high sodium levels. Many processed and prepared foods contain large amounts of sodium so your sodium intake can be sky high without ever adding extra salt to anything. Check the packaging on prepared foods for the sodium levels and try to limit your sodium intake to between 1,500 mg and 2,400 mg per day.
  
• Eat nutrient-rich foods. Eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole-grain high-fiber foods according to American Heart Association recommendations.
  
• Limit alcohol intake. Don’t exceed one drink per day if you are a woman or two drinks a day if you are a man.
  
• Take your medicine properly. Your blood pressure medications should be taken exactly as the doctor prescribed. Be careful not to run out of pills, not even for a single day as it can have serious repercussions for your blood pressure.
  
• Keep appointments with the doctor. Make sure to see your doctor regularly and go to all your follow-up appointments.
  
• Get physical. Increase your physical activity level, but be sure to follow your doctor's advice about the type and amount of exercise that is right for you.
  
• Have your family checked. Make certain your parents, brothers, sisters and children have their blood pressure checked regularly. If you have high blood pressure, they are more likely to have it, and the reverse is also true.
  
• Live a normal life in every other way. Don’t let high blood pressure restrict your enjoyment of life. Constantly worrying about your health may actually make your high blood pressure worse.

Talk to your doctor to find out more information on lowering your blood pressure and keeping it low. To learn about preventing high blood pressure before it occurs, see "How can I Prevent High Blood Pressure" in the Healia Health Guide to High Blood Pressure.

_{Source: American Heart Association, 10 Ways to Control Your High Blood Pressure, Reviewed 01/08. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=578}

_{Photo: KitAy, Flickr, Creative Commons}