Learn about high blood pressure at Mentor Library

Let's start with the bad news.

About one in three Americans—an estimated 67 million people—has high blood pressure.

You can have high blood pressure (also known as hypertension) for years without symptoms. And if it persists it can weaken your arteries and cause health problems, including stroke, kidney disease, loss of vision and heart disease.

Certain factors like family history, poor diet, drinking too much alcohol and not exercising can increase your likelihood of having hypertension.

But there's good news too.

There are things you can do to manage your high blood pressure: maintaining a healthy weight, drinking less (and especially avoiding binge drinking,) managing stress and exercising.

Eating healthy and limiting your sodium intake can also help.

A dietician from the Lake County General Health District will talk about the role of nutrition in preventing and controlling high blood pressure at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5, at the Mentor Public Library's Main Branch.

The talk is free and open to everyone. You can register for it here.

Join us Wednesday and learn more about how you can help yourself.