Some folks are convinced that foggy thinking is a natural part of aging. But if you have hypertension and experience spikes in your blood pressureyou might have an increased risk of experiencing brain drain!
Jason C. Allaire, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Department of Psychology at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, conducted a study that explored the effect of spikes in blood pressure levels on brain function.
According to results published in The Journals of Gerontology, the study involved 36 older people in the Detroit area, whose ages ranged from 60 to 87 years old. All participants were required to measure their blood pressure twice a day for 60 consecutive days.
The results indicated that people with high blood pressure tended to perform poorly on cognitive tasksespecially when their blood pressure level was above their personal average.
Participants with healthy blood pressure levels had different results. These participants in the study did not see their cognitive functioning drop, even when their blood pressure rose on occasion.
If you have blood pressure that wildly fluctuates and you have high blood pressure, you might be in double trouble for poorer cognitive functioning, Allaire said in a Reuters health report.
The best way to preserve your thinking is to make serious efforts to get your blood pressure under control. A sure way to monitor pressure changes throughout the day is to use a wrist blood pressure monitor. This can help you graph your readings regularly and possibly determine how foods, moods and stress affect your blood pressure.