Just 30 minutes a week on your cell phone can “raise your risk of high blood pressure,” experts warn
- Research shows that high blood pressure is associated with talking on the phone for 30 minutes a week
- Southern Medical University, China, surveyed 200,000 British adults over the age of 12
We all enjoy catching up with friends and family over the phone.
But calls should be kept to a minimum to keep blood pressure down and our hearts healthy, experts warn.
Research shows that just half an hour of mobile phone use per week is associated with a greater risk of high blood pressure.
Regular callers, who spend an hour a day on the phone, seemed to be at the highest risk of contracting the condition.
A team from China’s Southern Medical University has investigated whether there is a link between making and receiving phone calls and a new diagnosis of high blood pressure, also known as hypertension.
Research shows that just half an hour of mobile phone use per week is associated with a greater risk of high blood pressure
They analyzed data from more than 200,000 adults in the UK and collected information about their mobile phone use through a questionnaire.
Questions included how many years they had been using a mobile and how many hours per week they spent on it.
Over a 12-year follow-up, they found that people who spent 30 minutes or more a week talking on their cell phones were 12 percent more likely to develop high blood pressure than those who spent less time on phone calls.
This equates to being on the phone for just four minutes and 17 seconds a day.
In the European Heart Journal – Digital Health, the team wrote: ‘This raises questions about the safety of using a mobile phone to make or receive calls, especially for heavy users.’ More than a quarter of British adults have high blood pressure.
Looking at the findings in more detail, they found that people who spent more than six hours a week on the phone had a 25 percent increased risk of high blood pressure compared to those who spent less than five minutes making or receiving calls.
The number of years participants used a mobile phone, or if they used a hands-free device, did not appear to make a difference to risk level.
Professor Xianhui Qin, one of the authors of the study, said: ‘It is the number of minutes people talk on a mobile that is important for heart health, and more minutes means greater risk.
‘Our findings suggest that talking on a mobile phone does not affect the risk of developing high blood pressure, as long as the weekly call time remains below half an hour.
“More research is needed to replicate the results, but until then, it seems prudent to keep cell phone calls to a minimum to maintain heart health.”
It is estimated that just over a quarter of adults in the UK, about 14.4 million people, have high blood pressure.
The condition can damage arteries by making them less elastic, which reduces the flow of blood and oxygen and can lead to a heart attack or stroke.
The link between cell phone use and higher blood pressure could be related to low levels of radiofrequency energy emitted by the devices, the researchers said.
However, previous research on the same topic has had mixed results — possibly because they include calling, texting and gaming, she added.
The research team added: ‘In recent years, mobile phones have become a device of everyday life all over the world.
“This raises important questions about the safety of using a mobile phone to make or receive calls, especially for heavy users.
‘Our research provides new insights. Using cell phones to make or receive calls was associated with a significantly higher risk of new onset hypertension, especially in those with longer weekly usage times.