Is Reel Addiction Raising Your Blood Pressure?

While watching short videos or reels on social media has become a daily habit for young and middle-aged individuals, excessive addiction to this activity may lead to high blood pressure (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Hypertension - World Health Organization (WHO)

Go to source). The study, conducted by researchers The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University in China, aimed to explore the correlation between the screen time spent watching short videos at bedtime and essential hypertension among young and middle-aged people.

The team analysed data of 4,318 young and middle-aged people who self-reported screen time spent watching short videos at bedtime and also underwent medical examinations between January 2023 and September 2023.They found that longer screen time spent watching short videos at bedtime was associated with a higher hypertension prevalence.

Lifestyle Changes Key to Lowering Blood Pressure

In addition, they also urged “control of body weight, blood lipids, blood glucose, and uric acid levels, and improvement of poor lifestyle, such as a high-sodium diet,” which can help reduce the risk of hypertension. Previous studies have showed that prolonged mobile phone use, that is 30 minutes or more a week can increase risk of high blood pressure or hypertension.

The study, published in European Heart Journal – Digital Health, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), indicates that low levels of radiofrequency energy emitted from mobile phones has been linked with an increase in blood pressure.

A whopping 1.3 billion adults aged 30 to 79 years worldwide have high blood pressure, according to the World Health Organization. It is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke, as well as a leading cause of premature death.

Reference:

1. Hypertension - World Health Organization (WHO) - (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hypertension)

Source-IANS