Here’s a powerful exercise to try: wherever you are, wherever you go, simply look at the people around you. According to recent findings from the American Heart Association, one third of everyone you see has high blood pressure.

Hypertension is not just for grandfathers any longer. A whopping one in three Americans now have it. According to the Centers for Disease Control, hypertension is now common in everyone from toddlers to college students to grandpas (and grandmas.)

Scary, right?

More commonly known as high blood pressure, the disease occurs when blood pumps too forcefully through blood vessels. The great push of blood stretches veins and arteries out of shape. The vessels then tear and develop scar tissue as they try to heal. These scars act like burrs, on which cholesterol gets caught and builds up. Another scenario: vessels tear and rupture, sending fast-flowing blood everywhere.