I don’t know about you, but it seems like every time I turn around, I hear about another risk factor that could be putting my heart at risk.

And it’s not just the usual health and lifestyle suspects anymore, like lack of exercise and carrying around too much weight we have to worry about.

Instead, weird factors like air pollution and traffic noise are being shown to dramatically increase our risks for heart disease.

And now, there’s one more to at least consider…

Mobile phones may contribute to heart trouble

Yanjun Zhang, MD, Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China, explains, “Mobile phone use is a ubiquitous exposure in modern society, so exploring its impact on health has significant public health value. Radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) emitted by mobile phones cause dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, inflammatory responses, and oxidative stress, and are therefore expected to affect a variety of organs such as the heart and blood vessels. However, whether mobile phone use is associated with the risk of cardiovascular diseases remains uncertain.”

That is, until they got to work assessing data collected on 444,027 individuals from the UK Biobank — without a history of cardiovascular diseases — who self-reported on the frequency of their mobile phone use from 2006 to 2010. Regular mobile phone usage was defined as at least one call per week.

Using linked hospital and mortality records, the outcomes of incident stroke, coronary heart disease, atrial fibrillation and heart failure were ascertained over 12 years. The researchers also investigated sleep patterns, psychological distress and neuroticism among the participants.

They found that regular mobile phone use was positively associated with cardiovascular disease risk, especially in current smokers and people with diabetes.

“We found that sleep patterns, psychological distress, and neuroticism may be potential mechanisms of the association between mobile phone use and cardiovascular diseases,” said Co-investigator Xianhui Qin, MD, Division of Nephrology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China. “A poor sleep pattern and poor mental health may adversely affect the development of cardiovascular diseases through disrupted circadian rhythm, endocrine and metabolic disruption, and increased inflammation. In addition, chronic exposure to RF-EMF radiation emitted from mobile phones could lead to oxidative stress and inflammatory response.”

Should you put the phone down and step away?

This is one threat most of us didn’t expect. But if we were paying attention, we’d have known that last year the European Society of Cardiology published a study linking mobile phone usage to increased risk of high blood pressure.

But the data from both studies is more than a decade old. Some researchers skeptical of the findings argue that people use cell phones these days to relax, read and play games.

But we keep our phones within arms reach at all times, in purses, backpacks or pockets. Many of us keep them in hand while doing other activities, including watching TV, eating dinner or scrolling while we lay down for night.

That means we are constantly connected to the world around us and the stress of it — whether from personal situations or the socio-economic-political news and updates that are practically impossible to escape from.

The combined effects of stress, distress and lack of sleep are a perfect recipe for vascular dysfunction. Previous research found that in just eight minutes of feeling angry, the normal function of cells lining the blood vessels is impaired to the point they are no longer able to relax — something that can significantly restrict blood flow — increasing the risk of developing atherosclerosis.

Not only that, the effects of anger on the blood vessels lasted up to a full 40 minutes! How can you reduce these effects on your cardiometabolic health?

Disconnect. I know it feels impossible to put the phone down and walk away. But it’s good practice to limit your accessibility at times throughout the day, and especially at night. In the moment, there’s also a practice you should try…

Nasal breathing techniques help control the body’s reactions to stress, anxiety and anger on your blood vessels, especially when your “fight or flight” mode is triggered by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis that starts secreting the stress hormone cortisol.

When that happens, breathing becomes fast and shallow, the heart races and blood pressure goes up. This stress response lowers your nitric oxide (NO) levels — a natural vasodilator responsible for signaling artery cells to relax and open for normal blood flow.

Breathing mindfully through the nose releases NO into the nasal passages, which then reaches the lungs and finds its way into the bloodstream where it signals “normal” unrestricted blood flow.

Certain foods, like spinach and beets, can help the body produce NO. So if you eat dinner with your phone in hand, remember that.

Sources:

New research shows regular mobile phone use can increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, especially in smokers and people with diabetes — EurekAlert!

Air pollution: What you should know about this silent threat — Easy Health Options

Surprising Things That Lead to Heart Disease — WebMD