We are hearing that more and more people are suffering strokes these days and are in the look for ways to prevent a stroke from happening. The usual advise is lose weight and keep your blood pressure on the safe side.

High blood pressure is called the silent killer because it doesn't present a lot of symptoms and unless you are checking it regularly, no might never know you are suffering until it's too late. As they say, the first sign of a stroke could be your last.

It used to be advised to have a blood pressure reading of 120/80 but now doctors are asking patients to keep it even lower at 110/70. Well how do we do that without resorting to medicine and drastic weight loss measures? The good news is according to new science on the topic, all we have to do get off our feet and avoid the elevator whenever possible.

Most of have stairs at home, whether in your house or in the apartment or condo building, so finding an opportunity to take the stairs is not a hard thing to do, although given the choice we are more inclined to take the easy way out and push the elevator button.

If you have stairs that lead to your place of business, you should consider taking them for your heart and overall health. Once you start the habit, it becomes much easier to do over time and will become a regular thing you do and for good reasons.

From Dailymail.com

Climbing stairs every day can reduce the risk of a common cause of stroke by nearly a third, a study shows.

Researchers tracked hundreds of thousands of people in their fifties to see what proportion developed atrial fibrillation – an abnormal heartbeat which is a major risk factor for strokes.

They found adults climbing at least 110 steps a day - roughly the equivalent of going up a typical household staircase about seven times - were 31 per cent less likely to develop the potentially life-threatening condition.

Experts at Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China analysed data on stairs use and general health among nearly half-a-million Brits taking part in a long-term health project called UK Biobank.

All were free of any heart problems when they joined the study and followed up for 12 years to see who got ill.

Living in Massachusetts isn't the easiest thing in the world. If you grew up in another part of the country, for instance the Midwest, you might equate living in Massachusetts to switching a video game from rookie mode to HARDCORE BLOODBATH mode. Or like going from playing little league baseball to staring down Shohei Ohtani. The roads are a circuitous mess, the people (probably from being stuck in their cars for half the day) can be a little less than friendly, and it's expensive as hell. However, there is good news for people who wonder sometimes why they put up with living in a parking lot shaped like a state. Apparently, according to Wallethub.com as stressful as Massachusetts seems it is in fact the LEAST stressed out state in the country when it comes to one thing. Health! Massachusetts health is amazing!

Now I’m not going to debate a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. Granted I have been waiting since January to see my PCP and my appointment just got pushed back to July. But wallethub obviously didn’t talk to me when they did this poll. They asked people their thoughts on health related stress in Massachusetts with a focus on access to health care, psychological care, sleep and exercise. Apparently Massachusetts is KILLING it in those categories (while also killing it in the category of not killing people as the lack of crime in Massachusetts also really helped us in this category).

Let's look at the states that came in the top ten in regards to health in the US and who was better than Massachusetts in health. I should note that almost all the states in New England were represented in the top ten except two. Which ones are missing?

State: Iowa

Slogan: "Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain"

Health and Safety Score: 41

Health Rank: 10th

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Slogan: "Liberty and Union, Now and Forever, One and Inseparable"

Health and Safety Score: 42

Health Rank: 9th

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Slogan: "Hope"

Health and Safety Score: 43

Health Rank: 8th

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Slogan: "Under God the People Rule"

Health and Safety Score: 44

Health Rank: 7th

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Slogan: "The Old Line State"

Health and Safety Score: 45

Health Rank: 6th

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Slogan: "The Star of the North"

Health and Safety Score: 46

Health Rank: 5th

Slogan: "He Who Transplanted Still Sustains"

Health and Safety Score: 47

Health Rank: 4th

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Slogan: "Liberty and Independence"

Health and Safety Score: 48

Health Rank: 3rd

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Slogan: "By the Sword We Seek Peace, but Peace Only Under Liberty"

Health and Safety Score: 49

Health Rank: 2nd

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Slogan: "The Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness"

Health and Safety Score: 50

Health Rank: 1st