3 Ways Racism is Hurting Your Health, According to Research
In 1995, a group of women researchers decided it was time to finally start studying Black women’s health through a scientific lens. The women requested volunteers from Essence Magazine’s pool of readers, and over 50,000 Black women were ready and willing to join the study. Led by Boston University, the Black Women’s Health Study (BWHS) remains the largest and longest running study focused on Black women’s health in the US. Today, almost 30 years later, the results are in (well, at least some results). The consensus: racism does, in fact, negatively impact Black women’s physical health. Here’s how:
Hypertension
According to the study, incidents of racial discrimination can cause an increase of cortisol. As you may know, cortisol is a hormone that mainly exists to regulate stress in our body. A significant increase can lead to elevated blood pressure, or hypertension. That leaves us all with the burning question: Does hypertension really run in our families? Or are our bodies reacting to external stressors? When I wrote a past article about trauma, I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Joy Harden-Bradford, who taught me that we don’t even need first-hand racist experiences for our bodies to react. Just watching racism play out in the media in cases like George Floyd, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Mike Brown, and so many others has the exact same impact on us.
Breast Cancer
BWHS investigators also found that structural racism may have a hand in the incredibly high percentage of Black women battling breast cancer. To understand the roots of this type of racial discrimination, we have to go back to redlining. As a result of the practice, Black neighborhoods have deteriorated, and part of that deterioration includes lack of resources and high stress environments. And in case you were wondering, regardless of how much money we make, Black women are more likely than any other demographic of women to live in low-resource environments. These environments drastically impact our immune systems, and put us at higher risk for developing an aggressive form of breast cancer. FYI one positive outcome of this study is a tool that helps predict your risk of developing breast cancer as a Black woman. Definitely not the end-all-be-all, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Heart Disease
The study also revealed that heart disease isn’t just genetic, either. Based on the health patterns of participants, some instances of racism could also increase the chances of Black women developing heart disease. Researchers say the risk didn’t increase in one off instances of racial discrimination, like an interaction with a racist waiter. But long term exposure to racism, like having a racist boss or coworker, or experiencing housing discrimination, increased the risk of developing heart disease by 26 percent.
Scary, and this is only the beginning. The number of participants has decreased, but there are still over 40,000 women still actively sharing their health journeys. *Dear Participants, From one Black woman to another, I can’t thank you enough for what you’re doing.* For the Black woman reading this, I hope you read the BWHS results for yourself, and please check out the breast cancer risk calculator. Oh, and now that we know it’s not all just running in our families, let’s take our diets seriously, and let’s get active. Love you Sis!
