Better than blood pressure for better memory

Everyone’s heard of blood pressure. But how many people know what pulse wave velocity is?

It sounds like a mechanism Doc may have invented to power his DeLorean time machine. But it doesn’t have anything to do with high speed time travel back to the future. It does, however, have everything to do with your future…

Because it’s an important factor in keeping your memory—and staying “with it”—as you age.

Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is the rate of speed at which the waves of blood move through your arteries with each beat of your heart. That means it measures how flexible your arteries are. The better your PWV, the less arterial stiffness you have, which means you have less inflammation in your cardiovascular system.

This is incredibly important to your brain, which is reliant on blood for all its oxygen and nutrients, and for removal of waste products. Impaired blood flow to the brain can result in maybe the scariest medical term of all – stroke.

Poor blood flow is a risk factor for memory decline and even Alzheimer’s. Low pulse wave pressure is also a predictor of how well you think and how your memory holds up as you age.

A recent study by Emory researchers found arterial stiffness, measured as pulse wave velocity, is associated with a steeper decline in cognitive performance than blood pressure.

“By looking specifically at arterial stiffness we were able to identify a group of healthy adults that are at the greatest risk of developing cognitive decline. In particular, individuals with higher PWV and hypertension were at greatest risk”, says lead researcher Ihab Hajjar, MD, MS, associate professor of medicine and neurology at Emory University School of Medicine.

That means if your brainpower declines as you age, it’s more related to the underlying function of your arteries than in blood pressure or other traditional measures of risk.

The question is, how do you maintain arterial flexibility to keep your pulse wave velocity heathy and get proper blood flow to the brain?

• The first thing you want to do is get enough sleep. Many studies show that sleep deprivation can lead to chronic inflammation in the arteries. Combining deep breathing exercises with your preparations for sleep, to reduce stress, can have a hugely synergistic effect.
• Second, make sure you avoid pro-inflammatory foods. These include all processed and high-glycemic foods. It sounds repetitive, but these fake foods are connected with almost every chronic health issue we have.
• Third, take vitamin K2. It’s proven to increase arterial flexibility. In one study of healthy, post-menopausal women, vitamin K2 decreased production of an artery-stiffening protein by 50%! That means no matter your age or current health, vitamin K2 works. You can get some by eating natto and fermented dairy products. But you would need to eat an extraordinary amount to get the 150 mg or so per day that studies show boosts arterial health.