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Category: Brain Health
What High Blood Pressure Does To The Brain
The condition typically has no symptoms so it is vital to get checked out.
The condition typically has no symptoms so it is vital to get checked out.
Higher blood pressure in mid-life is linked to brain damage in later life.
High diastolic blood pressure — the pressure between heart beats — before age 50 is particularly strongly linked to brain damage in later life.
Diastolic blood pressure is the second or bottom number — and is usually considered high if it is over 90.
High blood pressure typically has no symptoms so it is vital to get checked out.
The condition is usually treated with a healthy diet, exercise and medication.
Dr Karolina Wartolowska, the study’s first author, explained the results:
“We made two important findings.
Firstly, the study showed that diastolic blood pressure in people in their 40s and 50s is associated with more extensive brain damage years later.
This means that it is not just the systolic blood pressure, the first, higher number, but the diastolic blood pressure, the second, lower number, that is important to prevent brain tissue damage.
Many people may think of hypertension and stroke as diseases of older people, but our results suggest that if we would like to keep a healthy brain well into our 60s and 70s, we may have to make sure our blood pressure, including the diastolic blood pressure, stays within a healthy range when we are in our 40s and 50s.
The second important finding is that any increase in blood pressure beyond the normal range is associated with a higher amount of white matter hyperintensities.
This suggests that even slightly elevated blood pressure before it meets the criteria for treating hypertension has a damaging effect on brain tissue.”
The study included 37,041 people who were tracked over about ten years.
The results showed that people with high blood pressure are more likely to have damage to the small blood vessels in the brain.
These types of changes to blood vessels are linked to dementia, stroke, depression and problems with thinking.
Dr Wartolowska said:
“Not all people develop these changes as they age, but they are present in more than 50 per cent of patients over the age of 65 and most people over the age of 80 even without high blood pressure, but it is more likely to develop with higher blood pressure and more likely to become severe.”
High blood pressure may cause smaller blood vessels in the brain to become leaky and/or larger blood vessels to become stiffer.
Both can cause brain damage.
Dr Wartolowska said:
“The long time interval between the effects of blood pressure in midlife and the harms in late life emphasises how important it is to control blood pressure long-term, and that research has to adapt to consider the very long-term effects of often asymptomatic problems in midlife.”
The study was published in the European Heart Journal (Wartolowska et al., 2020).
A Hidden Advantage Of Having Kids That Has Nothing To Do With Happiness (M)
Raising kids may do more than shape their future — it could be reshaping your brain.
What High Blood Pressure Does To Your Brain (M)
The findings are alarming, especially for younger adults, because it takes time to see the negative health impact to the brain caused by elevated blood pressure.
This Common Condition Triples Risk Of Life-Changing Strokes (M)
A stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is disrupted, which can damage or kill brain cells.
The Blood Type That Predicts Early Stroke Risk
Your blood type might signal whether you are prone to have an early stroke or not.
Your blood type might signal whether you are prone to have an early stroke or not.
Besides lifestyle and environment, genes have a big impact on a person’s state of health.
One example is a person’s blood group, which is inherited from genes passed down by the parents.
A meta-analysis of genetic studies reveals that our blood type can determine whether we are at risk of an early stroke or not.
They found that people with blood type A are more at risk of an early stroke.
Also, those with blood type B were more likely to experience a stroke before the age 60 and later on.
The review is based on 48 genetic studies related to ischemic strokes, the most common type of strokes.
Ischemic strokes are life-threatening conditions caused by a blockage of an artery that supplies blood to the brain.
Professor Steven Kittner, the study’s senior author, said:
“The number of people with early strokes is rising.
These people are more likely to die from the life-threatening event, and survivors potentially face decades with disability.
Despite this, there is little research on the causes of early strokes.”
The research team compared genetic data from 17,000 stroke patients with nearly 600,000 healthy adults (non-stroke controls) who were between 18- and 59-years-old.
The team studied the ABO gene located on certain chromosomes in order to find out if there is any link between common genetic variants with the risk of having a stroke before age 60.
Their analysis showed that participants with early stroke were less likely to have blood type O and most likely to have blood type A.
Participants with blood group A were more likely to have an early stroke and those with blood type O had a lower risk of developing strokes.
Those with blood type B were at higher risk of having an early stroke and later in life.
Professor Braxton Mitchell, study co-author, said:
“Our meta-analysis looked at people’s genetic profiles and found associations between blood type and risk of early-onset stroke.
The association of blood type with later-onset stroke was much weaker than what we found with early stroke.”
Compared to people with other blood types, those with blood type A had a 16 percent higher risk of an early stroke.
The authors acknowledged that the increased risk of an early stroke for people with blood type A is small and so they don’t need to worry or do any additional health check and medical tests.
Professor Kittner said:
“We still don’t know why blood type A would confer a higher risk, but it likely has something to do with blood-clotting factors like platelets and cells that line the blood vessels as well as other circulating proteins, all of which play a role in the development of blood clots.”
Past studies have found that people with blood type A are at a slightly increased risk of experiencing deep vein thrombosis.
The study was published in the journal Neurology (Jaworek et al., 2022).
12 Simple Changes That Could Save You From Depression, Stroke & Dementia (P)
Twelve lifestyle changes that can reduce your risk of depression, stroke and dementia by almost one-third.
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There are 12 modifiable lifestyle factors that protect against depression, stroke and dementia, a study of over 350,000 people finds.
They are split into physical risk factors, lifestyle elements and social/emotional components.
Making changes in these areas could reduce the risk of late-life depression, stroke and dementia by around one-third, or more.
This Common Food Keeps Your Brain Healthy
The more people ate, the better their thinking skills over time.
The more people ate, the better their thinking skills over time.
Eating two teaspoons of nuts each day is linked to better memory, thinking and reasoning, research reveals. Those eating a small amount of nuts regularly had 60 percent better cognitive skills than those not eating them, the study found. Nuts contain antioxidants that can help to reduce inflammation, which protects the brain against cognitive decline. The conclusions come from a study that tracked 4,822 people over 55-years-old in China from 1991 to 2006. All were given tests of cognitive function, including memory, thinking and reasoning. The results revealed that 10 grams of nuts per day or higher was linked to a 40 percent reduction in the risk of cognitive decline. The more nuts people ate, the better their thinking skills over time. Dr Ming Li, the study’s author, said:“By eating more than 10 grams (or two teaspoons) of nuts per day older people could improve their cognitive function by up to 60 per cent — compared to those not eating nuts — effectively warding off what would normally be experienced as a natural two-year cognition decline.”The nut most people ate in the study was peanuts — 17 percent were regular consumers of them. Dr Li said:
“Nuts are known to be high in healthy fats, protein and fibre with nutritional properties that can lower cholesterol and improve cognitive health. While there is no cure for age-related cognitive decline and neurogenerative disease, variations in what people eat are delivering improvements for older people.”Aging populations around the world can change their diet to slow down natural decline, Dr Li said:
“As people age, they naturally experience changes to conceptual reasoning, memory, and processing speed. This is all part of the normal ageing process. But age is also the strongest known risk factor for cognitive disease. If we can find ways to help older people retain their cognitive health and independence for longer — even by modifying their diet — then this absolutely worth the effort.”The study was published in The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging (Shi, 2018).
The Simple Sign That Your Brain Is Healthy
Two straightforward indicators of a healthy brain.
Two straightforward indicators of a healthy brain.
People who have a stronger hand grip have healthier brains, research finds.
In both young and old, stronger hand grip is linked to a healthier brain.
People with a stronger grip are less likely to develop brain-related diseases, such as dementia and stroke.
Another sign of good brain health is the ability to walk 100 metres in good time.
People who walk faster have better memories and larger brains.
They also perform better on tests of language and decision-making.
For the study, 2,410 people were given tests of grip strength, walking speed and cognitive function.
Scans examined the health and size of their brains.
They were followed up over more than a decade, during which time 70 people had had a stroke and 34 developed dementia.
Having a stronger hand grip was linked to a 42 percent lower risk of stroke.
Covering 100 metres in good time was associated with a 150 percent reduction in dementia risk.
Dr Erica C. Camargo, the study’s first author, said:
“These are basic office tests which can provide insight into risk of dementia and stroke and can be easily performed by a neurologist or general practitioner.
Further research is needed to understand why this is happening and whether preclinical disease could cause slow walking and decreased strength.”
Other studies have shown that people with greater grip strength have faster reaction times, are better at solving logical puzzles and have improved memories.
The research suggests that weight training may be a way to improve brain health.
It is known that aerobic training improves brain health, but the effect of weight training on the brain has not been fully investigated.
Lifting weights and strength training, though, can help to reduce depression.
Strength training can substantially improve people’s symptoms even for those with moderate depression and those who do not train that often.
Strength training, including weight-lifting, is particularly effective for people who have more severe depression symptoms.
The study was published in the journal Neurology (Camargo et al., 2015).
How Lifelong Stress Is Secretly Sabotaging Your Brain Health (M)
The hidden effects of stress on brain cell functionality.
