Have you ever heard of blood pressure? It’s the force your blood puts on the walls of your arteries as it moves through your body.
You can think of it like the speed of your blood. If your blood moves too fast—meaning your blood pressure is too high—it can cause damage and lead to serious health problems.
Now, scientists have discovered something new and important about blood pressure in young people. They found that when a young person’s blood pressure changes a lot over time, it may increase their chances of developing heart disease later in life.
Usually, doctors take several blood pressure readings and average them to decide if someone needs medication. But this new study suggests that big swings in blood pressure—even if the average seems okay—could be an early warning sign that something’s wrong.
The scientists got their data from a long-term study that has lasted for 30 years. It included many young adults, nearly half of whom were African American and more than half were women. These participants had their blood pressure measured regularly over the first 10 years. After that, the researchers continued to track their health for another 20 years.
They paid close attention to systolic blood pressure—the top number in a blood pressure reading. This number shows how much pressure your blood is applying when your heart beats. A systolic reading over 130 is considered high and can increase the risk of heart problems.
Over the course of the study, some participants developed heart problems or died. These problems included heart disease, heart failure, stroke, and surgeries to clear blocked arteries.
The scientists found that even a small increase in systolic blood pressure during young adulthood was linked to a 15% higher risk of heart disease later on. This was true even if the person’s average blood pressure was still in the normal range.
What does this mean? It means that not just the level of your blood pressure, but how much it changes over time, can affect your heart health. Right now, medical guidelines mostly focus on average blood pressure to decide if someone needs treatment.
But this study suggests that looking at changes in blood pressure—especially in young adults—could be just as important.
Catching these changes early might give people a chance to make healthy choices and avoid heart disease down the road. Eating well, staying active, and getting enough sleep are just a few things that can help.
This study was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and published in the journal JAMA Cardiology.
If you’re interested in learning more about blood pressure, you might want to read studies that show cannabis use can triple the risk of death for people with high blood pressure, or that drinking beetroot juice might help lower blood pressure.
This new discovery is another step in understanding how we can better protect our hearts and live longer, healthier lives.
If you care about blood pressure, please read studies about A common blood pressure medication may extend your healthy life span and findings of Common high blood pressure drug linked to sudden cardiac arrest.
For more information about blood pressure, please read studies about Timing matters when taking high blood pressure pills and findings of 1 in 5 people with high blood pressure taking a drug worsen the disease.
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