Heart health is known to come down to a number of wellness lifestyle factors. With a healthy diet, exercise, and not smoking, you can help reduce high blood pressure, but according to researchers at the University of Michigan Health System, heart disease could be in the air.
New research, published in the American Heart Association’s publication Hypertension, has revealed that the very air you breathe can be an invisible catalyst to heart disease. Just two hours of inhaling air pollution caused a significant increase in diastolic blood pressure, the lower number on blood pressure readings. Robert D. Brook, MD, lead author and assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Michigan Health System, commented, ‘Although this increase in diastolic blood pressure may pose little health risk to healthy people, in people with underlying coronary artery disease, this small increase may actually be able to a trigger heart attack or stroke.’
83 people in Ann Arbor and Toronto were involved in the study, in which the researchers hoped to identify which air pollutants are harmful and how the pollutants work to damage your cardiovascular system. Robert Bard, MS, co-author and clinical research manager at UM, explained, ‘We looked at their blood vessels and then their responses before and after breathing high levels of air pollution.’
Surprisingly, ozone gases, a well-known component of air pollution, were not the biggest culprit. Instead, the blame lay with small microscopic particles, which are about a 10th of the diameter of a human hair. Tests showed that these particles caused a rise in blood pressure within two hours and impaired blood vessel function which occurred later but lasted as long as 24 hours. It is believed that, once deposited deep into your lungs, these particles may enter your blood stream, causing a body-wide inflammatory response and potentially disrupting your nervous system.
Environmental cardiology is a relatively new field, but Brook asserted that the findings support efforts to maintain current ambient air quality standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency. He said, ‘It really bolsters and strengthens the importance of maintaining air quality for human health,’ adding ‘if air pollution levels are forecasted to be high, those with heart disease, diabetes or lung disease should avoid unnecessary outdoor activity.’
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