Tight blood pressure control may be key to closing door on dementia

What’s a normal blood pressure reading, and how do we keep ours in check?

This is not just an academic question for the thousands of us who live with hypertension, even of the mild variety.

High blood pressure has been definitively linked to so many dangerous health conditions, most notably heart disease and stroke.

It’s also been found to contribute to kidney disease, blindness, and sexual dysfunction. As Dr. Isaac Eliaz tells us, hypertension is truly a far-reaching condition.

A large study in 2015 looked at the connection between hypertension and heart disease. The connection was not hard to establish.

But the study then went on to look at the possible relationship between elevated blood pressure and the chance of developing dementia.

This connection wasn’t as easy to pin down, at least not from a statistical point of view.

But there was one finding that stood out for the researchers, and that has real implications for the rest of us who want to lower our dementia risk.

Clear link between hypertension and heart attacks

In 2015, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published the results of their landmark SPRINT study. Its purpose: to see if more carefully supervised treatment of hypertension could lower the risk of fatal heart attacks.

The study involved 9300 people from across the United States who were age 50 or above. All had hypertension and at least one other risk factor for heart disease (but not diabetes, dementia or a history of stroke).

Half the subjects had a treatment goal of reaching a systolic blood pressure (the top number) of 140 or less, while the other half aimed for a systolic pressure of 120.

In the intensive treatment group (those aiming for 120), heart attacks and deaths were reduced by one quarter. This was considered a great success, and the study was halted early.

In fact, because of these findings, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association lowered its standard blood pressure goals from 140/80 to 130/80.

MIND: The second phase of the study

Once the SPRINT study was ended, the MIND phase began.

Researchers continued to study 8560 of the participants for another two years, to see if there was any difference in cognitive health and incidence of dementia between the two treatment groups.

Over a five-year period, they found “no statistically significant difference” between the groups.

However, one thing did intrigue them.

There was a 19 percent lower rate of cases of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in the intensive treatment group.

MCI: The “gateway” to dementia

While mild cognitive impairment does not always lead to dementia, it is certainly a warning sign.

There are two types of MCI:

• Amnestic MCI involves memory impairment. Someone with this type of MCI will find themselves forgetting conversations they’ve just had, misplacing items, etc.
• Non-amnestic MCI. With or without memory impairment, this second type of MCI involves changes in language, attention or spatial sense. A person may forget how to navigate a familiar neighborhood or keep losing the thread of a conversation.

Of course, the MIND study was not without its limitations. For example, it did not determine which blood pressure drugs might be best at lowering dementia risk.

Still, there are absolutely things you can do to make it far less likely that you’ll be walking through that “gateway” to dementia anytime soon.

Diet, exercise and healthy habits are powerful ways to stay sharp

No surprise here: healthy eating, physical activity, staying connected to people and staying away from toxic habits are the keys to a sharp mind, well into old age.

But we now have hard evidence of this, says Dr. Miia Kivipelto, lead researcher of the Finnish Geriatric Intervention (FINGER) Study.

“It’s the first multi-domain lifestyle intervention that has shown a combination of lifestyle interventions is able to prevent or slow down cognitive decline… it’s been very difficult to show this with a randomized control trial, which is the gold standard in evidence-based medicine.”

Completed in June of 2015, the study’s findings suggest that starting a brain-healthy lifestyle before any cognitive impairment develops can possibly help reduce the risk of developing dementia.

This includes:

1. Regular exercise
2. Nutrition – a “healthy Nordic” diet, including lots of fish, fruits, vegetables, and oils
3. Regular doctor visits to head off hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, high cholesterol, all of which increase the risk for dementia.
4. Staying social keeps the brain active. So does new learning, whether it be a hobby, a class or a physical skill.
5. Good sleep habits. Seniors, in particular, run quite a few health risks when they don’t get good sleep on a regular basis.

The bottom line: the same healthy habits that keep your heart running well can also keep your brain sharp for years to come.

Editor’s note: Everything we know about lowering high blood pressure isn’t found in a pill bottle. But even though there are natural ways to help lower it, it’s advice you want from an expert. That’s why Natural Ways to Reverse and Prevent Hypertension, written by Dr. Mark Wiley, is the perfect way to get started. Click here to get it for just $9.95!

Sources:

1. Control Blood Pressure, Reduce Risk of MCI? — Berkeley Wellness
2. Effect of Intensive vs Standard Blood Pressure Control on Probable Dementia — JAMA
3. Staving off dementia when you have mild cognitive impairment — Harvard Health Publishing
4. Diagnosed With Mild Cognitive Impairment? Here’s What Comes Next — Cleveland Clinic
5. Inside the FINGER Study: Hard Evidence Shows How Diet, Exercise and Mind Games Might Make or Break a Dementia Diagnosis — Being Patient