High blood pressure in millennials; why this is a growing problem according to Men’s health.

Recently, our practice has had quite a few millennial new patients.   As always, we check blood pressure during the initial visit to screen for potential problems.   My office manager had noticed that most of them had high blood pressure, something we usually see in our older clientele.

It is common for people to have what is termed “white coat hypertension” , a common phenomenon.  It is also common for someone to have higher blood pressure when they are in pain.

After a number of our millennial new patients had high blood pressure with our electronic Sphygmomanometer, they were also checked with our manual Sphygmomanometer which proved our electronic device to be very accurate.

According to Men’s health, Millenial high blood pressure problems is a growing health concern.  Blue Cross Blue Shield had released a report earlier this past year which had shown that from 2014-2017, high blood pressure in the age group of 21-36 is a growing concern.  Normal blood pressure is considered to be 130/80. The blood pressure ranges were lowered in 2017 meaning that the people they evaluated had blood pressure above 140/80, which was the old range before the change had occurred.

While it has been reported that millennials try to eat better, this group tends to be more stressed than other generations.   Often, the foods they eat collectively may actually be less healthy.  Millennials are often more sedentary and may be under more financial pressure due to student debt which can also contribute to their blood pressure problems.

Check out the article below

The Great Millennial Blood Pressure Problem

Why it’s climbing faster in young people.

BY CASSIE SHORTSLEEVE DEC 22, 2019

You know the guy. You work with him, or you’re friends with him, or maybe you even are him. He’s youngish. Fit-ish. Flirting with fasting and CBD. Always tracking his steps, his sleep, his heart rate, his meditation streaks. But these trackers overlook one metric: blood pressure. Those two numbers measure how well your blood vessels handle the 2,000 gallons of blood your heart pumps around your body in a day. And young guys’ vessels aren’t doing the job so well.

Earlier this year, Blue Cross Blue Shield released data from the claims of 55 million people in its Health of Millennials report. One of the most shocking stats: From 2014 to 2017, the prevalence of high blood pressure in people ages 21 to 36 jumped 16 percent and compared with Gen Xers when they were the same age, high blood pressure among millennials was 10 percent more prevalent.

So what exactly do we mean by “high”? We mean blood pressure that measures above 130 systolic (the pressure in your arteries when your heart contracts) or 80 diastolic (the pressure between beats). And when that happens, explains preventive cardiologist Michael Miedema, M.D., M.P.H., of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, your blood vessels stiffen up, forcing blood pressure even higher. That can create stress on vessel walls, leading to an ugly chain of inflammation, plaque buildup, and higher risk for heart attack and stroke.

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