A study that followed more than 14,000 kids since 1995 has discovered in their most recent check-up that close to 37% were obese and 1 in 5 had high blood pressure!
Yikes! If that’s not a sign America needs a healthy dose of exercise and nutrition, we don’t know what is.
Lead study author Kathleen Mullan Harris, a professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, said of the findings:
“We wanted to look at the health of young adults in America , and the first thing we looked at was blood pressure. The prevalence is quite high ├óΓé¼ΓÇ£ 19% ├óΓé¼ΓÇ£ and we found this rather surprising.”
We’d say ALARMING is the more appropriate word.
Kathleen believes there are several factors that are contributing to the growing amount of young adults with high blood pressure. She blames the growing obesity epidemic caused by lack of exercise and processed foods high in sodium, but also young people’s attitude that they are invincible due to their age. She explained:
“Young people are thought to be relatively healthy, they’re busy building careers and families. We need to get them to see their doctors, or to check their blood pressure in a drug store, or even in a gym.”
She warned that high blood pressure has no symptoms, so it can be considered a “sleeping epidemic” and continued:
“This is a sleeping epidemic. You dont feel any different even though your blood pressure is high, but it’s doing permanent damage to your brain, heart, kidneys and your eyes.”
It sounds like if you don’t know whether or not you have high blood pressure, it’s a good idea to get that checked so you can plan your diet and lifestyle accordingly.