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Resolve to Know Your Numbers for a Better Year of Health (posted January 7, 2026).png)
By Adam Behnke, Communications Specialist for Brown County Public Health
Our lives are full of numbers. The address of our home. The digits of our phone number. The daily steps accumulated on our wearable fitness tracker. How much is left in our checking account. The days left until that trip you’ve been anticipating for months. And, for some of the youngest among us, the number ‘6-7’ (for reasons the rest of us will never fully understand).
The point is that there are a lot of numbers to track in our everyday lives. But many aren't aware of some very important numbers related to heart health. And that puts us at a disadvantage in our efforts to improve our lives in a direct, tangible way. The new year brings about a lot of talk about resolutions and goals. Today’s edition of the Healthy Herald urges you to resolve to know your numbers—blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels—as the foundation for a better 2026.
Blood Pressure
Blood pressure refers to how the blood within your body pushes against the walls of your arteries. You can think of your arteries as the roads and highways that carry blood from your heart to all the parts of your body. Your blood pressure does not stay consistent throughout the day, depending on what you are doing. But if your blood pressure stays consistently high, a condition called hypertension, you can develop problems with your heart, brain, kidneys, and eyes. The higher your blood pressure levels, the greater risk you have for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.
High blood pressure typically has no signs or symptoms, which means the best way to learn your levels is to schedule a visit with your healthcare team. A blood pressure reading is commonly conducted during regular preventative checkups and annual physicals.
If a health care professional diagnoses you with high blood pressure, know that many of the causes can be brought under control. Many people, regardless of their age, can lower their blood pressure into a healthy range by making lifestyle changes. These broad steps will improve many aspects of a person’s health, including blood pressure:
- Exercising (aim for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week)
- Not smoking
- Eating a healthy diet with limited salt and alcohol
- Maintaining a healthy weight
- Managing stress
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a waxy substance made by your liver to perform important functions like making hormones and digesting fatty foods. Cholesterol also comes in the food we eat from animal sources: meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, and dairy. Our body makes all the cholesterol it needs, so problems can develop when our diet contains too much additional cholesterol. High cholesterol can lead to heart disease, stroke, and increase the risk for some types of dementia.
Not all cholesterol is created equal! When a health care professional checks your levels through a blood test, the results show levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL). HDL cholesterol is commonly referred to as the “good” kind, because it helps stop LDL cholesterol (the “bad” kind) from sticking to your arteries, which lowers the risk for heart disease and stroke.
Optimal Cholesterol Levels
| Total cholesterol | About 150 mg/dL |
| LDL (“bad”) cholesterol | About 100 mg/dL |
HDL (“good”) cholesterol | At least 40 mg/dL in men and 50 mg/dL in women |
Like blood pressure, cholesterol can usually be controlled through healthy lifestyle choices:
- Eating lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts and lean proteins.
- Limiting sugary food/drinks, red meat, processed meats, salty snacks, and highly processed foods.
- Replacing saturated fats like butter and whole dairy products with healthier fats (olive oil, fatty fish, nuts, and eggs).
- Getting regular exercise.
- Stopping smoking because it lowers good HDL cholesterol.
- Limiting alcohol since it can raise your cholesterol levels.
- Taking medication as directed (if you are prescribed some to help control your cholesterol levels).
Health screenings often include a measure of how much glucose, or sugar, is in your blood. Healthy blood glucose levels are an indicator that your brain, kidneys, and heart are in good working order. Our body makes glucose when we eat food, sending it in our blood to places in the body that need energy. Sometimes insulin, a hormone produced by our pancreas, is needed to get the glucose into the cells for energy use.
When a person’s body begins to use insulin less efficiently (called “insulin resistance”) or the pancreas begins to make less insulin, Type 2 diabetes can develop. This is a long-lasting health condition in which too much glucose stays in the bloodstream, which can lead to heart disease, kidney disease, and vision loss.
In the U.S., about 1 in 3 adults has prediabetes, which is when blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not yet high enough for a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. Most people with prediabetes aren’t aware they have it unless they know their numbers by getting a health screening.
Prediabetes and type 2 diabetes can be prevented with lifestyle changes. These include losing weight, eating a healthy diet, and getting regular exercise.
Final Thoughts
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. Many people don’t know their heart health is at risk because high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and prediabetes usually don't cause any symptoms. In those cases, the only way to know a change is needed is by visiting your healthcare team for a checkup. Knowing your numbers provides the foundation and motivation to improve your health in the new year. It’s not too late to get back on track with a resolution. Why not set a goal to show your heart some love? Your life may depend on it.
Stay Healthy, Brown County!
Resources
https://www.nationalforum.org/kyn/
https://www.cdc.gov/high-blood-pressure/about/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/cholesterol/about/index.html
https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/lifes-essential-8
https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/about/index.html#cdc_disease_basics_prevention-prevention