People's blood pressure tends to go up as they get older—even if they don't eat processed food, sit around a lot, or follow a Western diet—so aging itself might be the reason, not just modern lifestyles.

Even in remote tribes that live totally naturally, blood pressure still goes up as people get older — which might mean aging itself, not just modern life, causes this change.

In some remote communities that live without modern industrial lifestyles, people don’t get high blood pressure as they age — and it’s super rare, suggesting it might not be a normal part of aging everywhere.

People from a traditional hunter-gatherer group in Cameroon don’t see their blood pressure go up as much with age compared to city-dwelling adults from another group, suggesting that living a traditional lifestyle might help keep blood pressure in check as people get older.

As people get older, their blood pressure tends to react more wildly when they eat less salt—meaning older folks might be more sensitive to how much salt they consume.

People who eat a lot of salt (6-12 grams a day) tend to develop higher blood pressure as they get older, while those who eat very little salt (less than 3 grams) don’t see the same increase.