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Your PIN number, your password. You can't operate without them.

Add high blood pressure, cholesterol, and body fat to that list, too. You can't live without those numbers -- literally.

High numbers = high odds of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

Some risk is inherited. But much is linked to things you can change -- like bad diet, smoking, and a sedentary lifestyle.

"Walking is perfectly fine," Michael Crouch, MD, a family and community medicine specialist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, tells WebMD. "Anything is better than nothing, but 30 minutes a day is what we recommend."

To better understand your heart numbers, here are the basics:

C-Reactive Protein
This is new on the heart numbers list. Researchers have identified this protein as a marker for heart disease and stroke -- even in kids.

They don't fully understand the relationship between C-reactive protein (CRP) and heart disease, but it's a sign of inflammation in the blood vessels.

Getting your CRP checked is not yet a routine recommendation. However, more and more doctors are using it to help identify people who may be at an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.

Numbers to worry about:

1.0 and less is considered low risk.
1.0 to 3.0 mg/L is average risk.
Higher than 3.0 is high risk.
"If you have a family history of heart disease, without a lot of other risk factors, you may have high C-reactive protein -- you may have inherited it," Crouch says.

Blood Pressure
One of the strongest markers for heart disease is measured in two numbers - your blood pressure. You hear the numbers, but do you know what they mean?

The first or top number is systolic blood pressure -- the pressure of blood against artery walls during a heartbeat, when the heart is pumping blood.

The second number is diastolic blood pressure - the pressure of blood against artery walls between heartbeats, when the heart is filling with blood.

Normal blood pressure is 119/79 or below.
Pre-hypertension is 120 to 139 (systolic) and/or 80 to 89 (diastolic).
Hypertension is 140 or higher (systolic) and 90 or higher (diastolic)
Do these numbers seem a bit lower than you remember? What's considered a normal blood pressure was redefined in May of 2003 when guidelines were revised to include a new category -- prehypertension.

Experts recommend that people with prehypertension -- an estimated 45 million men and women -- make heart-healthy lifestyle changes to reduce their risk of blood pressure complications, such as heart disease, stroke, and kidney damage.

Cholesterol
Probably the most familiar heart disease risk factor, cholesterol is a type of fat that is an essential nutrient for your body. However, too much cholesterol - or not enough of the good type of cholesterol -- floating around in your blood increases your risk for hardening of the arteries that can lead to heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.

Cholesterol is considered abnormal when:

Total cholesterol is 200 mg/dL or higher.
HDL or "good" cholesterol level is less than 40 mg/dL
LDL or "bad" cholesterol is 160 mg/dL or higher -- with 190 and above being very high. However, the lower the LDL, the better. An LDL less than 100 is considered optimal; 100 to 129 is near optimal; 130 to 159 is borderline high.
Those with certain medical risk factors (such as diabetes or known heart disease, past heart attack, or stroke) will have stricter cholesterol goals.

Body Mass Index (BMI)
This is an indicator of your body fat, a quick way to see if you are overweight. BMI may be overestimated in people with a lot of muscle mass, such as body builders.

BMI uses a person's weight and height to gauge total body fat. You can use this handy chart to easily estimate your BMI.

A BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is ideal.
A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is overweight.
A BMI of 30 or more indicates obesity.
A BMI of 40 or more indicates morbid obesity, which increases a person's risk of death from any cause by 50% to 150%, according to The Cleveland Clinic.
Type 2 Diabetes

Overweight and too little exercise -- that's what greatly increases the risk of type 2 diabetes. It's nothing to take lightly because it can lead to heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and even blindness.

A fasting blood sugar test -- after not eating or drinking anything but water for at least 8 hours -- is most commonly used to diagnose type 2 diabetes.

A normal fasting blood sugar is less than 100 mg/dL.
Prediabetes is a fasting blood sugar of 100 to 125 mg/dL.
A fasting blood sugar of 126 mg/dL or greater indicates diabetes.
"The bottom line is, take it seriously," says Crouch.

Reviewed on May 01, 2007

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SOURCES: Michael Crouch, MD, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston. WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise. WebMD Medical Reference in collaboration with The Cleveland Clinic: "Body Mass Index (BMI)."

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