Your Blood Pressure Starting at age 30, your systolic blood pressure rises 4 points per decade. Researchers from the Netherlands recently discovered that besides the obvious factors—obesity, lack of physical activity, and high salt consumption—diets containing too little potassium were the primary cause of hypertension. In their analysis, the scientists used 3,500 milligrams daily as the cutoff for defining a “low” potassium intake. That’s bad news, because the average American woman in her thirties gets only about 2,500 milligrams a day. YOUR PLAN Include ½ cup of beans, a banana, and a handful of raisins in your daily diet. Each will increase your potassium intake by about 400 milligrams a day. And don’t forget to test your blood pressure once a year. A reading below 120/80 millimeters of mercury is desirable, and anything over 140/90 mmHg is cause for concern. If you fall in that middle zone (between 120/80 and 139/89 mmHg), take note: You have pre hyper tension, which means you’re likely to develop high blood pressure if you don’t start taking preventive action now. Your Heart Fifty percent of heart attacks occur in people with normal levels of LDL cholesterol (the bad kind), so if you’re in a high-risk group because of race, blood pressure, or family history, you might benefit from asking your doctor for some additional blood tests. Tag-team your weight loss Work out with a friend and you’ll exercise for an additional 34 minutes, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. And researchers at the University of Oxford found that exercisers who trained in a group tolerated pain better than those who exercised alone. YOUR PLAN The high-sensitivity CRP test looks for elevated levels of C-reactive protein, which is produced by your liver in response to inflammation and is as predictive of heart disease as high cholesterol. Elevated levels of the amino acid homocysteine often signal the buildup of plaque, cholesterol, and calcium in your arteries, says Stanley Hazen, MD, PhD, director of the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Cardiovascular Diagnostics and Prevention. At least once every 5 years, starting in your twenties, you should have a full lipid profile test. Unlike common cholesterol screens, this blood test measures the levels of four different kinds of blood fats: LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, very low-density lipo-protein (VLDL), and triglycerides. It provides a clearer picture circulatory health and helps your physician pinpoint.