Having kids lowers blood pressure, says study
January 16, 2010 |15:34 | Kids By : Team X
Parents with children have lower blood pressure than childless couples, according to a study. Scientists at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, tested 198 adults several times an hour for 24 hours and found that parents' blood pressure was lower than those without children.
This result suggests that satisfaction of having a family outweighs the pressures over money, health, discipline and everything else that is associated with the difficulties of parenthood.
The results stated that, among others, parents had 4.5 points lower systolic blood pressure compared to non-parents, and that mothers had about 12 and seven-point blood pressure difference compared to women without child.
The study was led by Dr Julianne Holt-Lunstad who states, "While caring for children may include daily hassles, deriving a sense of meaning and purpose from life’s stress has been shown to be associated with better health outcomes.
"This doesn't mean the more kids you have, the better your blood pressure. The findings are simply tied to parenthood, no matter the number of children or employment status."
The study does not appear to have taken diet into account, however. The cause of lower blood pressure could be related to a lower intake of salt, because parents tend to eat a healthier, low-salt diet - conscious of how salt can affect their children's health.
In a previous study, Dr. Holt-Lunstad had conducted another study which revealed that, on average, happily married people had lower blood pressures compared with single people, but that the worst blood pressure was taken from people in an unhappy marriage.
0 Comments
Leave a Comment