Interview with Dr. Indranill Basu Ray, expert in the field of meditation and medicine. Check out his website at www.indranillbasuray.com. As discussed in the show, Dr. Basu Ray offers meditation guidance free of charge!

Dr. Basu Ray has trained in medicine and cardiology in India; in interventional electrophysiology and device therapy from the University of Toronto; and in electrophysiology research from Massachussets General Hospital at Harvard Medical School. He has been in charge of Experimental EP Lab at Beth Israel Deconess Medical Center and a faculty in Medicine (Cardiology) at Harvard Medical School. He is presently with Ochsner Medical Foundation and is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans and at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Dr. Basu Ray is a Professor and Dean of the College of Integrative Medicine, HUA, in Orlando, Florida since 2008.

The “young and invincible” mentality of Generation Y causes many young adults to not concern themselves with reducing their risk factors for cardiovascular disease and stroke, which are serious diseases that usually do not occur until later in life.

After all, as a young adult, if you look and feel healthy what could possibly go wrong?

Apparently more than you would think. A new study published in the journal Epidemiology this week indicates an unexpectedly high prevalence of hypertension in young adults in the United States, putting them at serious risk for health problems in the future.

This particular study compares discrepancies between two studies that estimate hypertension in young adults, ages 24-32, in the United States.

The first study, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), funded by the National Institutes of Health, began in 1995 when more than 15,000 U.S. middle and high school students were recruited to periodically follow up with blood pressure measurements over an extended period of time. In 2008, the study showed that 19% of adults in the 24-32 age group had hypertension (BP > 140/90 mmHg).

Add Health also indicated that a majority of the participants grew overweight or obese as they got older. In 1995, 11% of participants were obese which then doubled to 22% at a five year follow-up. By the conclusion of the study in 2008, 37% were obese and another 30% were overweight. This is a grand total of 67% of participants in the study being above normal weight. Considering being overweight is a risk factor for hypertension, the high rates of hypertension found in the study are not surprising.

However, data from another study, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), found that only 4% of participants between the ages of 24-32 had hypertension.

The new study in the journal Epidemiology sought to explain these large differences in hypertension prevalence. However, researchers could not find any issues with low validity or reliability in either study or differences in participant selection, measurement context, or interview content between the two studies. The study concluded that the discrepancy warrants further scrutiny.

However, the lead author did say in an interview with NPR that the real rate of hypertension in young adults probably lies somewhere in between the two percentage values. Nevertheless, the prevalence of hypertension in young adults is still high and needs addressing.

Despite the discrepancies found in these studies, perhaps most alarming is that although 19% of participants in Add Health were shown to have hypertension, many had never been told that they had a problem.

Because young adults often look and feel healthy, they rarely go to the doctor for routine checkups which include blood pressure screenings. Early stages of hypertension are usually asymptomatic and a person can go years with the disease without realizing their condition. These years of untreated hypertension can cause irreversible damage to the blood vessels and kidneys and put a person at risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke. Since hypertension is being found in younger ages than ever before, the time for Generation Y to think about their health in terms of long-term risks and benefits is now.

Reducing hypertension and risks for cardiovascular disease can often be done by lifestyle changes. Learn how to decrease your risk factors for cardiovascular disease here.

The survey found that nine out of ten young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 believe that they are living healthy lifestyles. Yet in reality they are not. Adults in this age group tend to eat too many unhealthy foods, drink too much alcohol, and do not exercise enough. Although this age group stated that they wanted to live long healthy lives, living to an average age of 98, their health behaviors now do not reflect that wish. In fact, one third of those surveyed did not believe that engaging in healthy behaviors now as a young adult could actually affect their risk of stroke as they age.

Dr. Ralph Sacco, a neurologist and President of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association was quoted in the above article saying, “Young adults need to make a connection between healthy behaviors and a healthy brain and healthy heart…if we are not able to help young adults understand the relevance of their actions now and their risk of stroke tomorrow, then we could be looking at an increase in stroke diagnoses and deaths within the next 10 to 20 years.”

The survey brought attention to the serious disconnect that many young adults have between how their health behaviors now can affect their risks for serious and preventable diseases in the future.

I talked to a group of Tulane medical students about their thoughts on the study and asked them this question: Are young adults really as naive about their health and health choices as the results of this survey made them out to be?

The consensus of our conversation was interesting. Yes, they believe young adults generally try to be healthy to the best of their ability. But no, young adults are not always healthy and do not necessarily think of chronic and preventable diseases such as stroke and cardiovascular disease. When they are healthy it isn’t necessarily for the sake of their “health,” but rather to fit in their favorite pair of skinny jeans, to look good in a swimsuit on Spring Break, or to impress their friends at the gym (but hey, although these reasons aren’t necessarily the “best” reasons to live a healthy lifestyle, I personally think that any reason you may have to keep yourself healthy is a good one!).

So what makes it so difficult for us to realize that our health choices now can increase our risk for stroke in the future?

The “young and invincible” mentality seems to be key.

“I think very few people our age think about that stuff, we do feel like we’re invincible. I think we make a lot of decisions, not just health related decisions about food and exercise, but just decisions in general where we think we are invincible and can live forever” John Wang, a Tulane medical student, said.

Denise Ammon, another Tulane medical student, suffers from high cholesterol. She shared her difficulty with maintaining the preventive measures that have been recommended for her.

“I think about it, I know how bad it is. But at the end of the day, if I want pizza I’m going to eat pizza,” Denise said. “My cholesterol isn’t bad enough where I have to take medication yet, but they did recommend me to take fish oil supplements and I started doing it but now I don’t. I don’t know what it would take for me to take it, it’s hard, you know?”

Of course, this was a Tulane University medical student population that I spoke with. This group is educated in healthy choices, knows the clear difference between an unhealthy and healthy lifestyle, and is even studying to be physicians in order to educate others about their health. Not quite your “average” young adult in America. But as was seen in our conversation, even they admitted to falling victim to the “young and invincible” mentality.

So how late is too late to concern ourselves with maintaning healthy lifestyles as a preventive measure for disease? Dr. Linda Kirby, medical director of Tulane’s Student Health Primary Care Clinic, shares her thoughts.

“I think some people are genetically prone to get early onset heart attacks, like in their early 40s…I would say that if you are at risk of that, you’ve got to start exercising and stop eating bad foods,” Dr. Kirby said. “The question becomes how much damage can you do at a young age and how much damage can you reverse?  If you start exercising when you’re 50, what have you already done to your body and is it reversible? I don’t know if anybody has ever studied that.”

Dr. Kirby offers a few suggestions to help improve the young adult’s lifestyle.

“Young adults need to be getting at least 20 minutes of cardiac exercise three times per week. This doesn’t have to be strenuous exercise. They can do it by walking. They also need to increase their fruits and vegetables and decrease fatty and deep fried foods. But what is often forgotten about is sleep. If you aren’t getting enough sleep, you release stress hormones, and you crave carbohydrates and fatty foods,” Kirby said.

For more information about stroke and cardiovascular disease prevention, visit the American Heart Association recommendations here.

Photo by Ken Levy, LA Times