Researchers at Southern University in California have found that young people who experienced high levels of stress from adolescence to adulthood are more likely to have high blood pressure, obesity and other cardiometabolic risk factors. The results of the study are published in the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA).
Specialists analysed medical information obtained during a health study of 276 children in Southern California. The indicators were assessed at the age of 13, as well as at the age of 24. The participants were divided into four groups: consistently high stress over time, decreasing stress over time, increasing stress over time and consistently low stress over time.
It turned out that high levels of stress from adolescence onwards increased the risk of poorer vascular health, levels of total body fat and fat around the abdomen, and the risk of obesity compared to those who felt less stressed over time. Adults also had worse vascular health and higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure in adulthood.
