A Younger Brother or Sister may Lead to Higher Blood Pressure

Having a younger sibling may literally have a negative effect on your health after researchers found that people who have a younger brother or a sister tend to have higher blood pressure than normal.

Having a younger brother can raise blood pressure by 3 to 5.9 per cent, while a younger sister can result in a blood pressure increase of 3.8 per cent.

US researchers studied blood pressure rates among 374 adults from nearly 200 families living in Amazonian villages in Bolivia, and found that 'sibling configuration, including birth order, the number, age, and sex of siblings is associated with parental resource allocation between children and is thus associated with a person's well-being.

According to the Daily Mail, the researchers said that in a large family, 'the number of younger brothers may exert an impact on an individual's blood pressure'.

"Children see the arrival of a younger sibling as stressful because the newborn competes for parental attention," the study, co-author Wu Zeng, from Brandeis University, Massachusetts, said

"In addition, more younger siblings might increase the workload of older sisters," it added.

Source: ANI