Your battle against hypertension begins at the table. A few simple dietary rules can prevent and in some cases cure high blood pressure. Cut down on salt and look for foods with a significant potassium concentration. Many of these recommendations are part of the Dash diet (www.dietadash.it), which aims to prevent hypertension.

You need to buy a blood pressure monitor, but you don't know which one to choose. Here's a guide to the various types, to help you find the right one for your everyday situation: the pros and cons of each one, how accurate and easy to read they are, and whether they're safe.

Hypertension means high blood pressure, and is the most common cardiovascular risk factor - in other words, the probability of heart attack or stroke. In Italy, according to the most recent statistics, only 35% of people have had this checked, so each year there are many preventable cardiovascular incidents.

Blood pressure is determined directly by the work done by the heart, which acts as a pump absorbing and releasing the blood. Changes in blood pressure depend on the relationship between the quantity of blood pumped by the heart and the resistance of the blood vessels.