Connecting with other teens online may be fun. But spending too much time on the Internet could lead to health problems, a new study reports. Heavy Internet use appears able to put teens at serious risk of high blood pressure, it finds.
As the term suggests, high blood pressure exerts extra outward pressure on vessel walls. With exercise, blood pressure increases. At rest, that pressure should return to a relatively low, background level. But in some people, it remains relatively elevated, even at rest.
High blood pressure in children and teens often continues into adulthood, says Andrea Cassidy-Bushrow, who led the new study. That’s a problem, she says. Persistent high blood pressure can trigger serious health problems, from kidney disease and memory loss to eye damage and heart disease or stroke.
Cassidy-Bushrow works at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Mich. As an epidemiologist, she investigates causes of illness.
