Newsletter #96: How Sunlight May Lower Blood Pressure 🌞
Hello Friends!
Welcome to the newest edition of the humanOS newsletter! Below is our own content and a roundup of the various studies and media that captured our attention this week. 🤓
This Week’s Research Highlights
😴 Irregular sleep patterns may increase risk of cardiovascular disease in older adults.
Researchers followed 1992 healthy older (45-84 years of age) participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), who did not have cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the study. Over the five-year follow-up period, participants with the most irregular sleep duration or timing had more than double the risk of experiencing a cardiovascular event, compared to those with the most regular sleep patterns. The association remained strong even after adjusting for known cardiovascular risk factors, and other sleep variables such as obstructive sleep apnea and average sleep duration.
🏥 Higher blood pressure during young adulthood is linked to greater functional decline later in life.
Researchers assessed the blood pressure, gait, and cognition of 191 participants from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study, a cohort of individuals followed over thirty years. Higher cumulative blood pressure early in life was found to be linked to greater deterioration in gait, as well as greater declines in memory and other aspects of cognitive performance. The association was independent of socio-demographics and other vascular risk factors. The well-established deleterious impact of elevated blood pressure on brain structure and function may begin relatively early in life, and perhaps even at levels below the threshold of hypertension.
🌞 Sunlight may be linked to reduced blood pressure.
Researchers examined blood pressure readings from more than 342000 patients at nearly 2200 clinics over a three-year period (a total of nearly 46 million blood pressure readings!). Blood pressure readings were averaged by month, then matched with reports on outdoor temperature and ultraviolet radiation, which also were averaged into monthly readings.
Exposure to UV radiation was found to be associated with lower systolic blood pressure, regardless of ambient temperature. Blue light may play a role in this association as well - check out this article to learn about that.
Podcasts We Loved This Week
- Simon Marshall: How to Stay Consistent. Via Nourish Balance Thrive.
- Christian Benedict: Sleep, Diet, Obesity, and Weight Gain - Part I. Via Sleep Junkies.
- Saskia Popescu & Jennifer Nuzzo: How To Prepare Your Healthcare System For A New Coronavirus. Via Science Friday.
Products We Are Enjoying
Gourmet Garden cold-blended pastes ( ginger and lemongrass).
These pastes are super convenient if you don’t have the time or patience to grate and mince fresh ginger or lemongrass (who does?). The flavor is excellent, especially in curries. They are versatile, keep well in the fridge, and are super easy to find in refrigerated sections at groceries across the US - I have seen them at Target, Safeway, Ralph’s, Kroger, etc.