When it comes to heart-healthy exercise, you don’t want to peak too young: Recent research suggests that if you want to protect yourself from age-related high blood pressure, you need to play the long game and maintain your activity levels well into middle age.
But social factors may make this harder for some people to do than others, according to a survey of more than 5,000 people in four U.S. cities.
“Although people in their teens and early 20s may be more physically active, these patterns change with age,” said study author Kirsten Bibbins Domingo, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco. explanation When the study was published in April 2021, American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
While many studies have shown that exercise can lower blood pressure, the new research suggests that “maintaining higher levels of physical activity during young adulthood than previously recommended may be particularly important for preventing high blood pressure,” Bibbins-Domingo said. Said.
Hypertension is a serious disease that affects billions of people worldwide. It can lead to heart attacks and strokes, and is also a risk factor for developing dementia later in life.
More than one in four men and about one in five women suffer from high blood pressure. According to the World Health OrganizationHowever, most people with high blood pressure don’t even know they have it, which is why it’s often called the “silent killer.”
But there are ways to improve high blood pressure, and the focus of this research is exercise.
The study involved more than 5,100 adults, whose health was tracked over 30 years through physical examinations and questionnaires about their exercise habits, smoking status, and alcohol intake.
At each clinical evaluation, blood pressure was measured three times at 1-minute intervals, and for data analysis, participants were classified into four categories according to race and sex.
Overall, physical activity levels declined from age 18 to 40 years in men, women, and both racial groups. Over the next few decades, hypertension rates increased and physical activity decreased.
According to the researchers, this suggests that young adulthood may be a critical period for interventions to prevent midlife hypertension with health promotion programs designed to encourage physical activity.
“Nearly half of the young adult participants had suboptimal physical activity levels, which was significantly associated with the development of hypertension, suggesting that minimum standards of physical activity need to be increased.” Said Lead author is Jason Nagata, a UCSF specialist in young adult medicine.
When researchers looked at people who participated in five hours of moderate exercise per week during early adulthood (twice the minimum currently recommended for adults), they found that this level of activity significantly reduced their risk of high blood pressure, especially if they maintained their exercise habits into their 60s.
“Achieve more than double the current minimum age of adulthood. [physical activity] “Meeting the guidelines may be more beneficial for preventing hypertension than simply meeting the minimum guidelines,” the researchers wrote. I have written In their papers.
But increasing your weekly physical activity can be a challenge amid life-changing decisions and growing responsibilities.
“This may be especially true after high school, as young people have fewer opportunities for physical activity and less leisure time as they transition to college, employment, and parenthood.” Said Nagata.
Another sobering truth: the study also found that black men and women have significantly different health trajectories compared to white men. By age 40, physical activity levels plateaued for white men and women, but activity levels continued to decline for black participants.
By age 45, black women had higher rates of hypertension than white men, while white women studied had the lowest rates of hypertension throughout middle age.
By age 60, 80 to 90 percent of black men and women had high blood pressure, compared with just under 70 percent of white men and about half of white women.
The researchers attribute these well-known racial disparities to a number of social and economic factors, although the study did not assess these factors, focusing on high school education.
“Black male youth may be avid sports participants, but socioeconomic factors, neighborhood environments, and work and family responsibilities may prevent them from continuing physical activity into adulthood,” Nagata said. Said.
This study American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
An earlier version of this article was published in April 2021.
