V.Taylor
COOL HEAD MAY MEAN CALM HEART
A U.S study was lead by Karen Mathews, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburg. The study began tracking the blood pressure of 5,115 men and women, ages 18 to 30 periodically in 1985.
They wanted to determine if the way you react to stress causes you to develop hypertension as you age. Young adults that stressed out the least, while playing a challenging video game in addition to other stressful situations were least likely to develop hypertension.
Examples of their tests were plunging their hands in ice cold water and keeping their hands in the water for 45 seconds, tracing an image, and playing a challenging video game.
They found 353 of the subjects developed hypertension after 13 years. The study did confirm that response to stress could be an important factor to you developing hypertension later on in life. However, I think that if they continue to track these people, more people will have hypertension as they age. The survey was conducted in 1985, this is year 2005.
The study still left researchers unsure of whether being subjected to stress caused hypertension or whether they should use the finding as just a good way of predicting who will develop hypertension and who will not.
I can remember as a kid that I was a kid who threw tantrums and cried when my feeling got hurt. As I became older I was a hot head still flying off the handle. Even today I sometimes overreact to a situation which makes my blood boil. I can actually feel the heat going into my face when something upsets me. I have learned to control my reaction to stress now that I am older. I development hypertension when I turned 40. My sister and brother both have it. My daughter is 31, I wonder if they she will develop it. I believe all of our diseases are causes from our diet and environment. When I was growing up, we not exposed to all the chemicals in food and we were more active. Our lives were not filled with such hectic schedules.
The study states that 353 people developed hypertension within the time frame of the study. I don’t think that is enough people to make a solid determination. I don’t think that being exposed to a stressor and not considering all other factors such as race, gender, education, age, and being overweight a determination can’t really be made. I truly believe we have markers on our genes that will tell if we are going to develop a particular disease. I think when we are young we should testing to give us that information. I think we should be able to have gene mapping done at the cost of the insurance company if you have the risk factors for a particular disease.
QUESTIONS
My questions for the class: (1) Do you think we should have gene mapping done at an early age, if you have several risks factors for a disease. (2) Do students in this class think they have characteristics of a person that may develop high blood pressure?
Verna Taylor
1