HHS HealthBeat (February 3, 2012)

The midlife heart crisis

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Nicholas Garlow with HHS HealthBeat.

Forget the shiny red car, or the extreme makeover. The so called “midlife crisis” may be all about your blood pressure. A study at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine reviewed blood pressure in 60,000 people, ages 41 to 55.

Norrina Allen is the lead author.

“Changes in blood pressure, particularly changes in early middle-age, have a long term effect on your cardiovascular risk.” (8 seconds)

Maintaining a healthy weight, eating right and exercising help maintain low blood pressure as you get older.

“Individuals who maintained low blood pressure had a much lower lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease and stroke.”  (8 seconds)

The study in the Journal of the American Heart Association was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Nicholas Garlow.

Last revised: February 3, 2012