Reducing your risk of heart disease could be as easy as changing up the type of carbs you eat -- from refined carbs to whole grains. In fact, according to recent studies, eating just one serving of whole grains can reduce your risk of high blood pressure by 4%. That might not seem like much, but it's a pretty promising result for such a small change in your lifestyle. Imagine the difference you could make to your heart health if you changed all of your grains to whole grains?

Cutting your blood pressure risk is as easy as switching from regular pasta to whole wheat, from white toast to whole wheat. You might not like the taste at first but you'll get used to it. I used to live for white bread and now I only eat whole wheat -- it's the only kind of bread I have a taste for these days.

Another thing to keep in mind is to check the labels on supposed 'whole grain' products to make sure they really are. If 100% whole grains isn't the first item on the ingredients list, toss it.

Many people experience a rise in blood pressure in the morning, which steadily declines throughout the day and steadies out overnight. Is this normal, and should you be concerned? Research has shown that the greater the difference between your blood pressure readings throughout the day, the more likely you are to suffer from a stroke.

If you suspect your blood pressure might fluctuate throughout the day, you might want to consider investing in a device that monitors your blood pressure throughout the day. Once you've established how much your blood pressure changes, you can talk to your doctor about preventing a stroke.

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Heart disease is a major health threat that everybody should be concerned about, and it seems the more research we do the more it's becoming painfully obvious that the majority of risk factors are things that are under our own control. Bad habits, personal lifestyle routines and choices, are the biggest culprits causing us to get sick.

This challenges the previous widely held belief that only about half of heart disease cases could possibly have been prevented by healthier habits (or a lack of bad ones, like smoking).

To me this is both good news and bad news. Obviously it's not good that we make so many unhealthy choices as a society that we're getting heart disease on a regular basis, but it's always good to have choices and be able to impact our own lives in a positive way. Whether we choose to take advantage by living healthier or not at least we have the option.

Massages are one of my favourite ways to relax, though because I don't have any real back or neck problems, they often seem like a frivolous indulgence for me (albeit a worthy one.) But here's some great news if you're looking for an excuse to get massaged -- they can prevent heart attacks! It all comes down to a group of cells in your neck that are connected to the area in your brain that helps control your blood pressure and your breathing. This is according to a study done at the University of Leeds.

So next time you're in need of some serious de-stressing, instead of reaching for the comfort food, treat yourself to a massage.

If you've got high blood pressure it could be about more than just your diet and your genes -- it might be going up because of your posture. Experts have long suspected a link between the blood vessels in the neck and back and a person's blood pressure and heart rate, and now they've found the proof. Due to a newly discovered neurological pathway it's now known that slouching at your desk, or neglecting to stand up straight, can end up raising your blood pressure and putting your health at risk.

So when your mom used to tell you to sit up straight she was helping you out with more than just good manners and appearance!

Avocados are a pretty trendy vegetable (or is it a fruit?) these days. Not only that, but it's really good for you. While avocados are fairly high in fat for a produce item (there's about 15% of your recommended daily intake in 1,) it's a trade-off because they have lots of vitamins, including Vitamins B, E and K, and they also have important nutrients like potassium and folate.

For the heart conscious, avocados can help regulate your cholesterol and blood pressure, according to this article. Furthermore, the folate in avocados can significantly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. So if you like avocados, eat up! I personally can't stand them on their own, so I'll be enjoying some home-made guacamole or trying to hide some in a salad or sandwich.

New research shows that raised blood pressure can be added to the list of negative side-effects babies get from their mother when she smokes during pregnancy. 456 healthy full-term babies were tested at 2 months of age and those with mothers who smoked during pregnancy had higher blood pressures on average than those whose mothers did not smoke. The higher blood pressure readings did not seem linked necessarily to low birth weight, the mother's age, or whether or not the babies were breast-fed, and follow-up studies will need to be done to see if the negative blood pressure effect stays with the children as they grow up.

The big buzz this summer is about vitamin D -- mainly, our lack of it. You can get vitamin D through food or by spending just a few minutes (sans sunscreen) in the sun each day. It's been linked to cancer prevention and most recently to multiple sclerosis, and over at That's Fit, I recently read that not it's also being linked to blood pressure.

According to a recent report out the NHANES III, a study that followed over 12,000 adults over six years found that those with the lowest amounts of vitamin D in their body had blood pressure readings that were slightly higher than those who had more vitamin D upon testing. Larger studies need to be done to confirm that the link exists.

If you do choose to go out in the sun to get your vitamin D, keep in mind that 2-10 minutes is usually enough for most people and that vitamin D can also be obtained through foods like salmon, tuna, milk, and liver.

It's not new but it might reduce your risk of heart attacks and stokes by an amazing 80%. The 3-in-1 polypill, which combines statin (to lower cholesterol), aspirin (to thin blood) and another medication for blood pressure, is recommended to men over 50, whether they have heart problems or not. The polypill is so well-revered that it;s thought to be a 'miracle' drug in terms of heart disease among men.

One drawback of the polypill, however, is that some men may mistakenly assume that taking the pill takes away the need to eat healthfully and exercise, which is certainly not true. Any drug should be merely a part of a healthy lifestyle, not a replacement for one.

I love it when there's good news about the "sins" we all indulge in anyway, and here's something positive about your chocolate habit: it may be helping to lower your blood pressure.

Okay, that's the good news. The bad news is that it takes the equivalent of less than two Hershey's Kisses of dark chocolate to do it.

It was a small study (just 44 people) and didn't involve many variations as far as age, previous health levels, or ethnicity, so the results will need to be duplicated on a larger scale in order to be really understood. But at this point don't feel too bad the next time you feel like having a bite or two of something chocolaty!

Hypertension is so common these days, that they even have machines that can check your blood pressure on the spot in the grocery stores -- it's that easy to do. And although most of the time people think getting tested at the doctor's office or hospital is best, when it comes to your blood pressure that isn't necessarily the case. A study that looked at blood pressure monitoring done regularly by patients at home versus having them visit a professional found that home monitoring was the best way to measure changes over time and assess if adjustments were needed in medication and treatment regimens. Just make sure you stick to the schedule your doctor recommends.

Who knows why so many people, men particularly, ignore their high blood pressure and don't make any moves to lower it -- only 1/3 of all patients with a diagnosis of hypertension have it under any kind of control at all. It's one of those illnesses that you can't necessarily feel doing damage, so it's easier to ignore. But whether you feel it happening or not, it is slowly killing you: among other things, having high blood pressure increases your risk of heart attack by 4 times.

Msn has compiled this list of 20 different things you can do to help lower your blood pressure. Although the article is written for men specifically, many of the tips are good for all of us, man or woman. Some things, like inactivity and stress, affect us all!

Soy is one of the more well-known health foods because it's high in protein and low in fat, particularly of the saturated variety. So it comes as little surprise that studies have shown that soy nuts are good for the heart -- specifically, they help lower blood pressure and bad cholesterol, especially in women.

Soy nuts are those tasty little things you find in the healthy section of your supermarket. I love them, and they make a great snacking substitution to chips and other junk food. I've even heard that some of them are coated in chocolate but I've yet to find those in my local grocery store.

What do you think of soy nuts?

Have you ever shaken someone's hand who has a strong grip, wondering if your hand would look like a car wreck once it is finally released? Well, it turns out that building hand strength has more benefits than just crushing someone's knuckles. A study that appeared in the European Journal of Applied Physiology suggests that increasing hand strength can actually reduce blood pressure.

In 8 weeks, test subjects who performed hand grip exercises lowered their systolic blood pressure by an average 15 points and their diastolic blood pressure by an average of 5 points. To effectuate these results, test subjects squeezed digital grip machines for 2 minutes, four times a day, three times per week. Researchers discovered that the blood pressure response to grip training is greater than to aerobic exercise.

This is a great breakthrough for patients with high blood pressure, for it highlights the fact that something as simple as squeezing a hand gripper can have a dramatic effect. Plus, squeezing a gripper will help ensure that you are up for the challenge the next time your mechanic wants to exchange a nice, firm handshake.

Sleep apnea is a big problem all by itself, but when you start complicating things by combining it with a pregnancy the health risks only compound. In a recent study that looked at 4 million women sleep apnea was tied to an increased risk for both gestational diabetes and pregnancy-induced high blood pressure.

This is one of those situations where prevention really is the best medicine. Maintaining a healthy weight (obesity is one of the greatest risk factors) and actively managing sleep apnea if you have it is key.