Gaby
A recent study from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) found that protecting yourself from high blood pressure requires a long-term approach. Manage blood pressure starting at a young age, and make regular physical activity part of that plan.
Hypertension, commonly known as high blood pressure, affects about 1.3 billion people worldwide. More than half of those people don’t receive treatment, and roughly half of people with hypertension are unaware they have it — which is why the condition is often called a silent killer. The World Health Organization estimates it affects one in four men and one in five women globally. Medical professionals warn that high blood pressure can lead to heart attacks or strokes, and it’s also a risk factor for developing dementia later in life.
However, there are ways to reverse high blood pressure, and one of them is exercise.
What Did the Researchers Discover?
Researchers have long reported that exercise helps normalize blood pressure. Now the UCSF team found that keeping a higher level of physical activity during youth is especially important for preventing hypertension. “Teenagers and young adults under 20 can be physically active, but this tends to change with age,” said epidemiologist Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, a co-author of the study.
The university team followed more than 5,100 adult volunteers in four U.S. cities. For three decades they tracked participants’ health with clinical blood pressure checks and surveys about physical activity and unhealthy habits like smoking and alcohol use, as reported by Science Alert.
The findings showed that both men and women experienced a sharp decline in physical activity between the ages of 18 and 40. As activity fell, hypertension rates rose significantly over the following decades.
The researchers say this suggests young adulthood is a critical window for preventing hypertension, which can become a chronic condition by middle age. Staying active during youth helps protect the body from high blood pressure.
“About half of our participants had insufficient levels of physical activity in their youth, which was largely associated with the subsequent development of hypertension,” said Jason Nagata, the study’s lead author.
How Much Physical Activity Is Needed to Protect Against Hypertension?
When the team looked at participants who did moderate physical activity for five hours a week during early adulthood (ages 18–25) — twice the minimum recommended level — they found that this amount of activity significantly reduced the risk of hypertension, especially if people kept that habit into their 60s.
Physical activity guidelines apply to people of all ages, but they’re especially relevant for recent high school graduates. “Opportunities for physical activity diminish as young people transition to college, enter the workforce, or become parents; their free time becomes increasingly limited,” Nagata said.
The study’s results were published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
