For Better Brain Health, Bring Down Your Blood Pressure – Everyday Health

Its likely that hypertension negatively impacts several brain processes, says Gottesman.

Certainly one is that long-term exposure to hypertension impacts arterial and arteriolar (very tiny arteries) health over time, which can increase risk of stroke or these stroke-like imaging changes, which in turn could impact cognition and even lead to dementia in some patients, she says.

Over time, years of hypertension may cause small clots traveling up to the brain or the accumulation of plaque that leads to reductions to blood flow, says Mohanty.

Brain matter tries to adapt to that lack of oxygen by growing support tissue around itself, but that support tissue isn't neurologic tissue its almost like a scar that's being developed in a low-grade fashion in response to lack of oxygen, but it doesn't have the capacity or the function that the brain cells, or neurons, do, he says.

Basically, the brains response is generally adaptive, but that adaptation can cause its own harm, because it's trying to defend itself in a low oxygenation state, says Mohanty.

And that can lead to gradual loss of cognitive function and loss of overall brain matter mass, and in some cases, dementia, he says.

It's also thought that high blood pressure can alter how well the blood-brain barrier functions, and even impact the function of the glymphatic system (a pathway in the brain that appears to remove waste from the central nervous system), says Gottesman.

Thats a newer concept thats been recently described and which is hypothesized to play a role in clearing toxins from the brain, including those that accumulate to cause Alzheimers disease, she says.

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For Better Brain Health, Bring Down Your Blood Pressure - Everyday Health