According to a study published in the journal Health Psychology, avoiding negative interpersonal interactions could be a good way to keep away from hypertension. Unpleasant or demanding interpersonal encounters increase hypertension risk among older adults, especially women, new research warns. While negative interactions predicted hypertension risk among women, the same was not true for men.

‘Women are particularly sensitive to negative interactions,’ said Rodlescia Sneed of the Carnegie Mellon University. ‘This demonstrates how important social networks are as we age. Constructing strong, positive relationships are beneficial to prolonged health,’ said co-author Sheldon Cohen from Carnegie Mellon University. The study showed that each increase in the total average negative social interaction score was associated with a 38 percent increased chance of developing hypertension over a four-year period.

The researchers observed sex differences in their findings and also found that the type of relationship matters.

Negative interactions between friends and family led to an increase in hypertension risk, while poor encounters with partners and children did not make a difference.‘Interpersonal conflicts are the most commonly reported stressor, so understanding their impact on health and well-being is particularly important,’ said Sneed.

What is hypertension?

Hypertension is the medical terminology for high blood pressure. Blood flows through the arteries due to force that is exerted every time the heart beats to pump blood to various organs of your body. The force with which blood flows exerts pressure on the walls of the arteries. The more the pressure, the harder your heart has to work to pump blood.

Blood pressure is measured in millimetres of mercury (mmHg). 120/80 mmHg is considered as the normal reading for blood pressure, where 120 is the pressure when the heart beats to pump out blood (systolic pressure) and 80 is the pressure when the heart rests between beats (diastolic pressure). A person is said to have hypertension when the blood pressure readings are 140/90 mmHg or higher.

Hypertension is one of the most common chronic conditions that can lead to several other health problems  in the presence of contributing factors like genetics, obesity or high cholesterol levels. These factors further increase the resistance of blood flow through the arteries and cause high BP. Elevated blood pressure is linked to a variety of diseases like coronary artery diseases, stroke, kidney diseases, vision loss and erectile dysfunction. Hypertension can be curtailed by changes like exercising more, eating right and reducing stress apart from taking anti-hypertensive drugs.