diet and get more exercise. Most of all, she recommended he see a doctor.
About 10 days later, Whitehead hadn’t gotten around to a checkup when he felt a mild headache at work. This had been happening from time to time over the past few months and he always figured it was because of the stress at his job. He never thought much of it because medicine always helped.
Only this time, the headache began to pound. He became nauseous and light-headed. He thought he might pass out.
“Then I started to put things together,” he said. “I realized this hypertension thing was probably why my head was always hurting. It all made sense.”
Whitehead went straight to a doctor.
***
Sure enough, his blood pressure was even higher than it had been at the park.
A variety of tests turned up no other problems. That was good news. If he could control his hypertension, everything else should improve.
Whitehead took the next two days off work, followed by three scheduled days off. He used that time to commit to a new lifestyle.
He stopped drinking soda and started drinking a