Are you watching what you eat and exercising regularly to keep our blood pressure in check – or get your numbers in the normal range if they’re high?

Although nearly all people know that losing weight and exercising regularly helps control high blood pressure, but less than half were actually doing anything it.

In fact, one poll shows that 42 percent of the people said they were exercising regularly and only 38 percent were following healthy diets or limiting salt, with many believing that simply taking prescription medications to control blood pressure wipes out the need for lifestyle changes.

Not so, says Dr. Marvin Moser, a professor at Yale University’s medical school and president of the Hypertension Education Foundation.

"It appears that there is enough concern among individuals with high blood pressure to visit their doctor routinely and take their medicine, but not enough concern to motivate them to change their daily activities,” he says.

"Most Americans have become more aware of hypertension and its risks. Knowing about risks is important, but controlling them may be difficult because there are few compelling or immediate incentives to take medication or change habits because of the lack of annoying symptoms from high blood pressure."

A third don't know it

Nearly 60 million American adults have high blood pressure, but about a third of them don’t know it. The condition is blamed for more than 250,000 deaths each year, and is the most common reason why people see doctors, according to federal figures.

Health experts like Moser warn that uncontrolled high blood pressure is a significant risk factor for coronary heart disease, stroke, and heart and kidney failure. When combined with diabetes or high cholesterol, your chances of a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular condition is increased significantly.

But, Moser notes, diet, exercise, other lifestyle changes and prescription medication can lower your risks by 35 percent to 50 percent.

Progress, misinformation

Although some researchers cite encouraging progress in controlling high blood pressure, too much misinformation still lingers in the public's mind about the condition and how to control it. Dr. Philip Mellen, a professor at Wake Forest University’s medical school in Winston-Salem, N.C., says he found 22 percent of the people were following the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH diet - and that's down by eight percent over the past 10 years.

The diet, recommended by federal health agencies, focuses on lowering the fat and cholesterol and sodium in your meals and raising the calcium, magnesium, potassium, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products.