High blood pressure or hypertension is one of the leading causes of stroke, heart attack and kidney disease, making blood pressure a crucial number to regulate. In fact, more than 73 million Americans have hypertension. For many years, it was thought that the main way to keep blood pressure under control was to limit salt intake, quit smoking and learn how to reduce stress. Today, we know that there are a number of factors that can lead to high blood pressure, and there is a lot more we can be doing to ensure that we do not end up having high blood pressure or related health conditions. Some of these things include making sure that we monitor our weight, regulating what we eat, and checking our blood pressure daily, which can be done with a home unit, or at any number of pharmacies that have free blood pressure testers.