dementia

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Can High Blood Pressure Affect Your Brain Health?

Can High Blood Pressure Affect Your Brain Health?

Can High Blood Pressure Affect Your Brain Health?

High blood pressure is very common among adults. The blood pressure measured above 120/80 mmHg is considered to be higher than normal blood pressure. The statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that 1 in 3 adults in the United States have high blood pressure. High blood pressure usually doesn’t have symptoms. However, sometimes the people with high blood pressure may experience headache, blurred vision, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, and chest pain.

If high blood pressure usually doesn’t have symptoms, then what should you do? I guess I don’t have to tell you about it. You need to get your blood pressure checked every now and then. There are people who just ignore their high blood pressure, and due to their carelessness, it leads them to various diseases, which are caused by uncontrolled blood pressure. If you have high blood pressure, then you should better get it under control. In this article, you will get to know about how high blood pressure can affect your brain health.

How high blood pressure can have an adverse impact on your brain health?

It is very crucial to control your blood pressure to reduce the chance of suffering from brain diseases. There are many things, which can lead to high blood pressure like smoking, stress, overweight, salty foods, and others. You should modify your lifestyle to minimize the chances of having blood pressure. When you minimize your chances of having high blood pressure, you automatically minimize the chances of suffering from brain diseases as well.

Some of the brain diseases are dementia, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and others. The statistics show that 5.4 million Americans are diagnosed with Alzheimer and 1 million Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Moreover, the numbers are expected to further increase in the upcoming years. With the high prevalence of brain diseases, it is necessary to take good care of your brain health. In addition to controlling your blood pressure, you should also consume best brain foods for improving your brain health.

Your brain needs sufficient blood supply to function properly. High blood pressure could cause severe damage to your brain if it is not controlled. Here are the ways how high blood pressure can affect your brain health.

Transient ischemic attack (TIA): TIA is also called mini stroke. It is simply a temporary obstruction of blood supply to your brain. The root cause of TIA is high blood pressure. TIA is generally caused because of a blood clot or atherosclerosis, which are caused because of high blood pressure.

Damages and weakens your brain’s blood vessels: Uncontrolled blood pressure will damage and weakens the blood vessels in your brain. This will further lead in narrowing, rupturing, or leakage. When this happens, you are likely to suffer from stroke. Moreover, uncontrolled blood pressure will also form a blood clot in your arteries, which blocks the blood from getting to the brain, which will lead to stroke.

Dementia: Dementia is simply a brain disease, which causes thinking, reasoning, memory, and other problems related to functions of the brain. There are various causes of dementia, and one of the causes is high blood pressure. As high blood pressure results in obstruction in arteries, which is responsible for providing blood to the brain, it causes vascular dementia.

Mild Cognitive Impairment: You need a good memory to smoothly carry out your day to day activities. However, with cognitive impairment, you will not be able to smoothly carry out your day to day operation. Mild cognitive impairment may be caused due to aging, diabetes, smoking, and high blood pressure. The obstruction of blood flow to your brain caused because of high blood pressure does not allow your brain to function properly, which may lead to mild cognitive impairment. You can try some of the top brain supplements like Geniux to improve your memory.

Conclusion

You are now well aware about the risks of not controlling your blood pressure. It is absolutely critical to control your blood pressure to improve your overall health. Your brain is a central processing unit of your body, and you don’t want to be careless regarding your brain health. You should seek for every possible way to improve your brain health; however, the first step is to control your blood pressure. You can also try some of the top memory aids for improving your memory.

I hope you will modify your lifestyle after reading this article. You can modify your diet, and do some physical workouts enhance your overall health. The study shows that exercises can also enhance your overall brain health. You don’t need to panic; you just need to take necessary actions to improve your health and lifestyle.

Author Bio:
Annie Lizstan works as a health and beauty consultant for online websites and an independent researcher by profession. She had completed her studies from university of Arizona and lives in Wasilla, Alaska.  She has experience researching as a passion as well as profession. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

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Ten Signs of Alzheimer’s – What you Need to Know!

The thought of Alzheimer’s is very concerning. Especially when it affects family and friends!

But the earlier Alzheimer’s (and other forms of dementia) are diagnosed the better the treatments available.

So we are sharing this list of signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease from the Alzheimer’s Association.

Know the 10 signs – An infographic by the team at Alzheimer’s Association

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Music therapy – how music therapy is helping older people and persons with dementia.

Music therapy for dementia

Music therapy for dementia

Leicester’s Hospitals are working together with OPUS, a leading provider of music in healthcare settings, to bring music onto wards for older people and for those with a dementia.

Following the success of their previous visits to Older Peoples wards, OPUS will now visit all three sites of Leicester’s Hospitals on a weekly basis over the next two years.

Two musicians will be visiting the hospital for a day each week, providing music and song on various wards. OPUS musicians engage with patients, visitors and staff in music-making, creating an environment conducive to health and well-being. The musicians also carry a variety of instruments for patients to use.

Music and singing creates an opportunity for patients to reminisce and retrieve memories which at other times may be lost. This initiative has been supported by the Arts Council and Leicester Hospitals Charity.

Justine Allen, Older Peoples Sister, said: “The first visit from OPUS was inspiring and overwhelming to say the least.  Patients with dementia who had found it difficult to communicate beforehand began to respond. They clapped, touched, opened their eyes, smiled, tapped and sang.

“It was amazing to be part of and was great to see the positive impact OPUS had on the overall environment, for both staff and visitors to the ward.”

OPUS Music Community Interest Company (CIC) is a UK leader in taking music-making into healthcare settings.  The core team of musicians from OPUS are Nick Cutts, Richard Kensington, Oli Matthews and Sarah Matthews.

Nick Cutts, Director and musician at OPUS, added: “We are delighted to be extending our practice at Leicester’s Hospitals to include work with older patients and those with dementia. We know from our experience, and from recent research, that live music-making makes a huge difference within hospitals both to the health and wellbeing of the patients, but also to the visitors and staff.”

The OPUS visits began this September, to support national Older People’s Month, among a calendar of events and ward celebrations arranged by Leicester’s Hospitals patient experience team.

For more information about OPUS, please visit www.opusmusic.org

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Why is Exercise Important for Alzheimer’s Patients?

A Lady doing Yoga - what are the health benefits?

A Lady doing Yoga – what are the health benefits?

As anyone with a family member with Alzheimer’s will know that it is a full time job caring for them. And it is not just about giving them attention; you have to research about a lot on Alzheimer of things which you never thought would come up.

For example, after my uncle was diagnosed one thing that later came up was how to ensure that he got enough exercise in the later stages of the disease. And such things really matter.

Exercise is good for everyone, and matters a whole lot more for people with Alzheimer’s disease. Exercise unfortunately does not cure the condition but it does help to ease some of its symptoms. And anything that helps our loved one has to be considered.

How does Exercise help Alzheimer’s patients?

When one says the word exercise, most people think of running, swimming or going to the gym. However exercise is a lot more than that. Any physical activity that can increase your heart rate and make you breathe more deeply can be defined as exercise. This means every day activities such as gardening, dancing and walking also count as exercise. Also chores like gardening and doing the laundry not just lead to physical exercise, but their simple repetitive nature also helps inoculate a sense of peace and security in people with Alzheimer’s. Tasks like folding laundry may not be really intensive exercise but they help because these tasks do not involve decision making and remembering what to do next thus they are a source of meditation almost, making anxiety drop. And when they finish they feel good, knowing that they have accomplished something.

Beside lowering anxiety there are other benefits which exercise brings for people with dementia:

Exercise can serve as a great way to ensure they get opportunity for social interaction. My uncle loves going to the park for a walk. And it makes for a great time for me to actively converse with him too.

Exercise improves their sleep.

Their ability to self-sufficient, that is dress themselves, clean and even cook can be done more efficiently if they are fit physically.

Studies have shown that exercise does help to improve memory and slow down the mental decline.

Exercise leads to the release of endorphins, which in turn leads to an overall improved mood, confidence levels and overtime greater self-esteem.

Getting started with exercise

It is important that you go to the doctor for advice before you start developing an exercise regime for your loved one. This is more important for older patients, especially those who had so far not undertaken regular exercise.

What is the right amount of physical activity in the early to the middle stages of dementia?

There is no standard answer to this question and the amount of exercise really differs from person to person. Most health organizations recommend that adults should at least get 150 minutes of moderately strenuous physical activity each day. This translates to 30 minutes for 5 days a week. However you do not have to maintain a continuous 30 minute session. You can break down 30 minutes into 10 or 15 minutes sessions. For example, I take my uncle to a 10 to 15 minute walk to the grocery shop. And then later in the evening he and I do our push-ups and crunches.

Each year in November we celebrate Alzheimer’s awareness day. It is great that we have dedicated a day to them, but we should remember that they require our attention throughout the year and the little things go a long way. So go for regular walks with your loved ones, be they in the park or to the local supermarket but do keep them physically active.

 

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Nostalgia is good for you? Find out about Reminiscence Therapy here!

Memories to help with dementia

Memories to help with dementia

Not only is it nice to reminisce, it also has some health benefits.

 

Remembering the past isn’t just a pleasant escape from your current situation, in fact, nostalgia has recently been shown to improve your health and wellbeing, as well as helping with the aging process and afflictions such as dementia.

Nostalgia was the phrase first used in the 1600’s by the Swiss to name the homesickness many soldiers felt after returning from the Alps.  Nowadays however, we know that it is a worldwide experience, felt even by children as young as seven. So why do we do it?

Research shows that nostalgia actually boosts your mood, psychological comfort, and can even raise your self-esteem and optimism about the future. It also found that reminiscing about your youth, particularly in groups can benefit your memory and ability to recall, with even care home patients with dementia experiencing an 8% improvement in recall.

Remembering the past and discussing memories with a person or a group of people is beneficial to patients suffering from dementia. This is often referred to as Reminiscence Therapy, and can involve the use of various prompts such as pictures, music, or familiar items to dementia sufferers to help recall the past. Reminiscence therapy is shown to have a positive impact on patient mood and cognitive behavior, and on top of this is a pleasurable activity for those involved whilst giving carers an opportunity to learn more about patients and build closer relationships. A recently created Summer Moments Timeline, that covers the key events from the last 60 years of summer with images and descriptions of events, could be used in such therapy.

Though we all have different memories, reminiscing about shared experiences is also shown to promote sociability, and can even create bonds. When done in groups with people who have shared experiences such as wartime memories, or even events such as movie releases or sporting victories like the 1966 World Cup, it was shown to have a better impact on the brain. Team nostalgia showed it strengthened patients ability to recall, and can be even more useful than one on one talks with a caregiver.

So, looking through those photo albums, listening to a classic song, or even just talking with people from your generation can have a real positive effect on your health. Whether you’re remembering a beautiful holiday, thinking of youthful escapades with friends, or remembering when you first saw your partner, nostalgia isn’t just self-indulgent thought, it’s a healthy psychological activity.