Jacqui Deevoy checks whether overuse of social media could be raising your blood pressure.
Studies have shown that spending too much time on social media can put a strain on your body and raise your blood pressure. The cure? Step away from your phone!
After years of putting it off, I decided to book in for a cataract operation. I went for my initial consultation with the doctor who’d be doing the surgery. Prior to meeting the doctor, a nurse took my blood pressure: she said it seemed a bit high. She suggested taking it again in 15 minutes and sent me back to the waiting room. Whilst there, I pondered what was going on. I hadn’t slept well the night before and I was nervous about the appointment. Maybe that’s why my blood pressure had shot up.
All blood pressure readings I’d ever had up until that point were on the low side. I remember, whilst pregnant, my BP was 110/60: I think the highest reading I’d ever had was 120/70. Now, suddenly and oddly, it was 165/113!
My mind started to race. I was trying to think of possible causes. I knew stress could be a factor but had I been more stressed than usual in recent times? Well, yes – obviously! – but hasn’t everyone? The last five years have caused terrible upset and worry for most people and, although I may not have suffered as much as others, I’ve had – and still have – my fair share of financial and personal struggles. I – rather stupidly – did too much work for free at the start of the nonsense in 2020, believing that certain stories needed to be told, and realising that the truth wasn’t going to be published by the mainstream media. Most of the alternative news sites I worked for couldn’t afford to pay, so I just bit the bullet and did the work anyway. This led to a lack of income, a rise in debt and the inability to pay bills. I ended a relationship, moved house, started divorce proceedings and took on work that was totally out of my comfort zone – that involved being in front of a camera and public speaking. That resulted in the Ickonic documentary ‘A Good Death?’, loads of appearances on other people’s podcasts and a Friday night talk show of my own on Unity News Network. All very exciting but super-stressful too. What else though?
My over-use of social media didn’t enter my mind at that point: I would leap from Facebook to Twitter to Telegram to Gettr – where I spent the most time depended on where I was banned. I had 13 30-day FB bans was given a 16-month suspension on Twitter in August 2021. I was even banned on Telegram for 24 hours and lost my Gettr account. I set up an Instagram account but rarely have time to use it. Tending to all these timelines was time-consuming and, before I knew it, I was spending half the day posting, sharing, commenting, debating, chatting to strangers… and arguing too. It was addictive though and I realised I couldn’t stop. My name is Jacqui and I’m an SM-aholic.
I started to investigate. A study in 2017 – the first that examined the physiological effect of social media use – at Swansea and Milan universities showed that after a social media ‘session’ heart rate and blood pressure is elevated by up to 8%.
A recent article at Resperate.com revealed that many researchers and specialists recommend that adults should spend less than an hour a day on social media, especially if if you suffer from high blood pressure.
One of the first studies done on the link between heavy internet use and high blood pressure was carried out on teenagers by the Journal of Nursing in 2018 and observed a direct correlation between the two.
A very specific study (titled Effect of Posting on Social Media on Systolic Blood Pressure and Management of Hypertension: A Randomized Controlled Trial) sought to evaluate the effect of tweeting about health on a regular basis on Twitter had on participants’ blood pressure. (https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/JAHA.120.020596)
It’s said that the major contributing factor towards high BP is stress and it’s a fact that using social media – especially to excess – can dramatically increase stress levels. General anxiety – which can also be brought about by excessive use of your favourite platforms – and online arguing can also affect your blood pressure.
So if you’re aware of your heart rate increasing and feel like your blood’s boiling every time you open up your SM apps, then maybe it’s time to take a break.
by Jacqui Deevoy
Journalist/author/producer
