When most men hear high blood pressure, they think of an impending heart attack or stroke.
And while that’s a valid concern.
There’s another threat that comes along with high blood pressure you need to know about.
A new study, published by Oxford University Press, indicates that people with high blood pressure are at a higher risk of developing dementia. [R]
This research also shows (for the first time) that an MRI can be used to detect very early signatures of neurological damage in people with high blood pressure, before any symptoms of dementia occur.
Which is important, because it’s becoming increasingly clear that when signs of brain damage appear, it may be too late to reverse the neurodegenerative process.
The study found patients with high blood pressure showed significant alterations in brain white matter.
Why is this significant?
Because white matter is where neurochemical communication in your brain happens.
Damaged white matter means the brain can’t properly “talk” to itself…
Causing dysfunction…
Resulting potentially in the type of damaged brain we see in folks with dementia and Alzheimer’s.
High blood pressure patients also scored significantly worse in the cognitive domains ascribable to brain regions connected through white matter, showing decreased performances in executive functions, processing speed, memory and related learning tasks.