“What?” you ask. Don’t worry – you read that right. It’s a serious question.

“But how could my house cause high blood pressure?”

It is common knowledge that foreclosures can affect the prices of neighborhood real estate. But who would have thought that it can actually make your blood pressure shoot up?

With an interesting hypothesis that foreclosures could actually affect neighbors’ health, the research study based in Harvard University analyzed data of 1750 residents from Massachusetts through the period of 1987 to 2008.

The team found that any foreclosure that happened within a 100 meters radius had an effect on the residents’ systolic blood pressure. It is believed that various factors like concern about the value of their homes, security and losing good neighbors can all have an effect on the blood pressure.

On an average, a rise in blood pressure of 1.71 mm Hg was observed. While this is not such a significant rise and definitely doesn’t pose a health hazard, the researchers still point out that it is something worth further analysis.

If you’re wondering how this could be a matter of concern, here’s a good comparison – The blood pressure usually rises by approximately 0.65 mm Hg every year. So a 1.71 mm Hg rise corresponds to three years of aging!

One expected conclusion that the research drew was the fact that houses that went into foreclosure but were purchased immediately did not have much of an impact on the blood pressure while those that remained vacant for a long period affected the systolic pressure.

The team however warns that the results are not conclusive and can vary depending on the location. But no matter what, the study sheds light on the fact that apart from known risk factors, many other subtle and seemingly insignificant events can influence our health.

You’d like your blood pressure to…you know…spiral downwards. You want it to be at normal levels. So we think that you might like these 3 simple exercises that will do just that. Because blood pressure matters…