2023-12-26 16:54:56
Study: Maintaining exercise levels makes you control your blood pressure!?
Recent research suggests that if you want to protect yourself from high blood pressure as you age, you need to play the long game and keep your exercise levels high into middle age.
But social factors can make this more difficult for some people than others, according to a study conducted on more than 5,000 people in 4 American cities.
The author of the study published by the “American Journal of Preventive Medicine” in April 2021, epidemiologist Kirsten Bibbins Domingo from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), explained, “Teenagers and those in their early twenties may be physically active, but these patterns change as they progress.” Age,” according to what was reported by the “Science Alert” website.
Many studies have shown that exercise lowers blood pressure, but new research indicates that “maintaining physical activity during adulthood; at higher levels than previously recommended; “It may be particularly important for preventing high blood pressure.”
“High blood pressure – a serious condition that affects billions of people around the world – can lead to heart attack and stroke,” Domingo said. “It is also a risk factor for developing dementia later in life.”
According to the World Health Organization, more than one in four men and regarding one in five women suffer from high blood pressure. But most people with high blood pressure don’t even know they have it, which is why it’s often called the “silent killer.”
However, there are ways to overcome high blood pressure; Exercising is the focus of this study; It recruited more than 5,100 adults and tracked their health over three decades through physical assessments and questionnaires regarding their exercise habits, smoking status, and alcohol intake.
At each clinical evaluation, blood pressure was measured three times, one minute apart.
To analyze the data, participants were grouped into four categories, by race and gender. Across the board—among men and women and in both ethnic groups—physical activity levels declined from ages 18 to 40, with rates of high blood pressure and physical activity declining over subsequent decades.
According to the study researchers, this suggests that “young adulthood is an important window for intervention to prevent high blood pressure in middle age through health promotion programs designed to promote exercise.”
To further explain, the study’s lead author, Jason Nagata, an expert at the University of California, San Francisco, said: “Nearly half of the participants in adulthood had suboptimal levels of physical activity, which was significantly associated with the onset of high blood pressure, indicating that we… “Minimum standards for physical activity need to be raised.”
When the researchers looked at people who did five hours of moderate exercise per week during early adulthood (twice the current minimum recommended for adults) they found that this level of activity significantly reduced the risk of high blood pressure, especially if people continued to exercise.
“Achieving at least twice the current minimum physical activity guidelines for adults may be more beneficial for preventing high blood pressure than simply meeting the minimum guidelines,” the researchers concluded in their published paper. They added, “But it is not easy to increase weekly physical activity amid life-changing decisions and increasing responsibilities.”
In this context, Nagata emphasized, “This may be especially the case following high school when opportunities for physical activity diminish as youth transition into college, the workforce, parenthood, and the erosion of leisure time.”
The study also revealed another alarming fact, as it showed how black men and women face completely different health trajectories compared to their white counterparts; At age 40, physical activity levels stabilized among white men and women, while activity levels among black participants continued to decline.
By age 45, black women surpassed white men in rates of high blood pressure, while white women in the study experienced the lowest rates of high blood pressure during middle age.
By age 60, 80 to 90 percent of black men and women had high blood pressure, compared with less than 70 percent of white men and regarding half of white women.
The research team attributed these known racial disparities to a large number of social and economic factors. These factors were not assessed in this study, although secondary school education was noted. Nagata went on to say, “Although young black males may have high participation in sports, socioeconomic factors, neighborhood environments, and work or family responsibilities may prevent continued participation in physical activity throughout adulthood.”
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