Does surfing the internet raise your blood pressure?

ConclusionThis cross-sectional study looked for an association between time spent on the internet and elevated blood pressure in a group of adolescents in the US. Overall, the results of this study did not find increased internet use was associated with hypertension in adolescents. The only statistically significant result was that heavy internet use was associated with a slightly higher diastolic blood pressure compared with light internet use, but this was still within the normal range.Although researchers say this is the first study to their knowledge that examines the association between internet use alone and elevated blood pressure, it has several limitations. These include: Blood pressure measurements were collected at a single point in time. This is not sufficient to diagnose hypertension, as blood pressure should be taken on separate occasions, and high blood pressure should be confirmed on continuous ambulatory monitoring or home blood pressure monitoring. Adolescents self-reported the number of days and hours spent on the internet in the past year. This may not be an accurate estimate, especially when they give this estimate in front of a parent or guardian, in addition to the potential for recall bias. The study did not measure adolescents' time doing a particular activity on the internet, such as school assignments compared with gaming. Although the researchers accounted for most common confounding factors, there may be other factors that might have ha...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Pregnancy/child Source Type: news