Posted on 10/10/2024 8:50:01 PM PDT by Red Badger
When it comes to exercise for heart health, you don't want to peak too early in life. Recent research suggests that if you want to protect yourself against high blood pressure as you age, you need to play the long game and keep your exercise levels up through middle age.
But social factors can make this more difficult for some people to do than others, according to a study of more than 5,000 people across 4 US cities.
"Teenagers and those in their early 20s may be physically active but these patterns change with age," study author and epidemiologist Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) explained in April 2021, when the study was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Numerous studies have shown that exercise lowers blood pressure, but the new work suggests that "maintaining physical activity during young adulthood – at higher levels than previously recommended – may be particularly important" for preventing hypertension," Bibbins-Domingo said.
Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is a serious condition affecting billions of people worldwide. It can lead to heart attack and stroke; it's also a risk factor for developing dementia in later life.
Upwards of one in four men and about every fifth woman has hypertension, according to the World Health Organization. But most people with high blood pressure don't even know they have it – hence why it's often called the "silent killer".
Yet there are ways to turn high blood pressure around: exercise being the focus of this study.
Over 5,100 adults were recruited to the study, which tracked their health over three decades with physical assessments and questionnaires about their exercise habits, smoking status, and alcohol intake.
At each clinical assessment, blood pressure was measured three times, a minute apart, and for the data analysis, participants were grouped into four categories, by race and gender.
Across the board – amongst men, women, and in both racial groups – levels of physical activity slumped from 18 to 40 years of age, with rates of hypertension rising and physical activity falling over subsequent decades.
According to the researchers, this suggests that young adulthood is an important window for intervening to prevent midlife hypertension with health promotion programs designed to boost exercise.
"Nearly half of our participants in young adulthood had suboptimal levels of physical activity, which was significantly associated with the onset of hypertension, indicating that we need to raise the minimum standard for physical activity," said lead author Jason Nagata, a UCSF expert in young adult medicine.
When the researchers looked at the people who had done five hours of moderate exercise a week during early adulthood – double the minimum amount currently recommended for adults – they found this level of activity lowered the risk of hypertension considerably, and especially if people maintained their exercise habits until age 60.
"Achieving at least twice the current minimum adult [physical activity] guidelines may be more beneficial for the prevention of hypertension than simply meeting the minimum guidelines," the researchers wrote in their paper.
But it's not easy to step up weekly physical activity amidst life-changing decisions and growing responsibilities.
"This might be especially the case after high school when opportunities for physical activity diminish as young adults transition to college, the workforce, and parenthood, and leisure time is eroded," said Nagata.
As for another sobering truth, the study also showed how Black men and Black women experience starkly different health trajectories compared to their White counterparts. At 40 years of age, physical activity levels plateaued among White men and women, whereas activity levels in Black participants continued to decline.
By 45 years, Black women surpassed White men in rates of hypertension, while White women in the study experienced the lowest rates of hypertension through midlife.
And by age 60, between 80 to 90 percent of Black men and women had hypertension, compared with just below 70 percent for White men and around half of White women.
The research team put these well-known racial disparities down to a multitude of social and economic factors; not that these factors were assessed in this study, although high school education was noted.
"Although Black male youth may have high engagement in sports, socioeconomic factors, neighborhood environments, and work or family responsibilities may prevent continued engagement in physical activity through adulthood," Nagata said.
The study was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
An earlier version of this article was published in April 2021.
Conclusion: Exercise is either a demonstration of white privilege or it’s racist. Or both.
“Conclusion: Exercise is either a demonstration of white privilege or it’s racist. Or both.”
True, Whites, generally, live in nice areas where they can safely walk or jog. Blacks, on the other hand, live in crappy areas where it’s far more dangerous to be out in public.
So he does have a point...I guess.
>> “The research team put these well-known racial disparities...”
That type of divisive drivel does indeed kill the interest the reader might otherwise have in the statistics.
Yeah but in the black areas they can / have to run really fast.
beets beets beets.... I’m in my early 60’s and I eat them every day. I know people who take the powdered stuff, but I think its gross. Actual food is always better, beets are high in nitric oxide. Literally natures way of controlling blood pressure. (When you first start eating beets, you will notice an interesting color in fluids... that goes away usually within two weeks, but drs and the internet will alarm and scare you, by telling you, you have developed beeturia.)
I have no doubt that exercise plays an important role but I think there tends to be a little too much covering up for malignant elements in our food chain when studying the causes of hypertension.
>>>beets beets beets.... I’m in my early 60’s and I eat them every day. I know people who take the powdered stuff, but I think its gross.<<<<
I take Super Beets powder and you’re right, it’s not the best tasting drink in the world...but it does work.
My BP went from the mid 150s to a little under 120 after about a week of drinking it.
Beets are the answer!
BTW, how do you prepare your beets?
I suppose that’s a good point. I hike hills and mountains about four days a week and I’m lucky to live to a lot of great hiking places nearby. Not so true in the city.
I don’t exercise at all. My blood pressure is just fine.
Study Reveals How Much Exercise You Need Weekly To Control Your Blood Pressure
10/06/2024 5:46:03 PM PDT · by ChicagoConservative27 · 28 replies
Sciencealert ^ | 06 October 2024 | CLARE WATSON
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4269315/posts
So, they need to do something about it.
The only thing that's going to successfully change black culture and increase safety and health, is blacks themselves.
They must hold each other accountable for their suicidal (as a race) self-destructive behavior.
Stupid article. Did the poster even read it?
To keep the racism going I’m sure that during robberies, high speed chases, resisting arrest and beating your baby momma’s there’s a chance of elevated blood pressure.
No race was listed in my post....
I sometimes roast them and then dice them, adding onions and goat cheese, a little olive oil and apple cider vinegar. But you can also find the pre cooked variety in the produce aisle and then chop them up. I get mine from a natural foods market and can find the organic variety.
I usually add them to my breakfast, which includes two hard boiled eggs and two heaping spoons of raw sauerkraut. I sprinkle them liberally with coarse sea salt.
Basically, we should eat like the Amish.
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