Talking on the phone raises blood pressure, study finds.
- The mobile phone emits harmful waves for the heart.
- Indeed, according to researchers, talking on the phone for more than 30 minutes a week increases blood pressure.
- Scientists advise reducing the use of telephone conversations to less than half an hour per week.
Do you talk more than 30 minutes a week on the phone? Your risk of high blood pressure is increased by 12%, according to a study published in European Heart Journal – Digital Healtha journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
High blood pressure may be due to cell phone use
Indeed, mobile phones emit low levels of radiofrequency energy, which however have been associated with increases in blood pressure after short-term exposure, explain the researchers.
Arterial hypertension (HTA) corresponds to an abnormal increase in blood pressure on the walls of the arteries, according to theHealth Insurance. It is the most common chronic disease in the world.
When it is not controlled, hypertension increases the work of the heart which is exhausted (we speak of heart failure), constitutes an important cardiovascular risk factor (such as myocardial infarction, and stroke ) and promotes the occurrence of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Hypertension and mobile: more than 200,000 adults have been followed for 12 years
The study was based on the UK Biobanka large-scale biomedical database and research resource.
A total of 212,046 adults aged 37 to 73 and not suffering from hypertension were followed for 12 years. They had filled in their use of their mobile phone: the years of use, the number of hours per week and the use of a hands-free device or a loudspeaker.
The researchers analyzed the relationship between cell phone use and the onset of hypertension after adjusting for many factors including age, sex, body mass index and level of education. Among the participants (including 62% women), 13,984 participants (7%) developed hypertension over the duration of the experiment.
For health, reducing the time spent on the phone is essential
And according to scientists, people who talked on their cellphones for 30 minutes or more per week had a 12% higher chance of developing high blood pressure than participants who spent less than 30 minutes on the phone.
The results were similar for women and men. “Our results suggest that talking on the cell phone may not affect the risk of developing high blood pressure as long as weekly call time is kept below half an hour.said study author Professor Xianhui Qin of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Further research is needed to replicate these results, but until then it seems prudent to keep cell phone calls to a minimum to preserve heart health, the authors advise.
