High Blood Pressure Puts Strain on Brain
Researchers Find a Link Between Dementia and High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure numbers can do a real number on your brain health.
If you’ve read my book The Blood Pressure Miracle, then you know what a devastating impact high blood pressure has on heart health. But what you may not know is that high blood pressure jeopardizes our mental health as well.
Over the years, multiple studies have shown links between deteriorating brain health and high blood pressure. One such study recently published in the journal Stroke found that older people with high blood pressure tended to have a greater accumulation of white matter on their brains. Past studies on people with various forms of dementia—including Alzheimer’s disease—have found that people with the most severe forms of dementia have this so-called white matter. White matter is basically scarring that’s formed on the brain.
Another study linking high blood pressure to dementia was published in the online issue of the Journal of Clinical Hypertension (December 2009). Among the 1,400 elderly women studied over the eight-year study, a certain segment had “significantly more” lesions by study’s end. What portion? You guessed it—the ones with high blood pressure.
Not surprisingly, researchers believe that the longer high blood pressure goes unchecked, the greater risk there is for dementia. And since high blood pressure is known as “the silent killer,” this is a serious concern that happens all the time.
Researchers are so sure of this hypertension/dementia link that the big dog on campus, the National Institutes of Health, is recruiting thousands of elderly people with high blood pressure to take part in their study.
The manner in which the recruits will be treated is not yet known, but I’d be willing to bet that they’ll be treated with some kind of statin.
You already know how I feel about statins, but if statins are the way the researchers go for treatment, fine by me.  The natural method is the ideal method, but when people have dangerously high blood pressure levels, desperate times call for desperate measures.
High blood pressure is one of the leading health risk factors for heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in America. According to the CDC, approximately 630,000 people died from heart disease in 2006 (the latest year available with this kind of information).  Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, is the seventh most common cause of death in the country. Approximately 72,450 people died from Alzheimer’s in 2006.
If you want to know how to get your blood pressure under control naturally, then you’re in the right place. Natural Health On The Web is an ideal place to begin your research. There is plenty of free information on high blood pressure available to you on this website. I suggest starting in the following section: High Blood Pressure.
Sources:
newsmaxhealth.com
cdc.gov
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Posted: January 31st, 2010 under Dementia, High Blood Pressure.
Tags: alzheimers risk factors, high blood pressure effects, high blood pressure natural remedy, natural cure for high blood pressure
