Memory and thinking skills are more interlinked with blood pressure than you might imagine. Researchers report that drastically lowering blood pressure may help protect memory and thinking skills later in life.

The study, which looked at more than 9,000 people over the age of 50, found that those who lowered their blood pressure to 120— the top number, or systolic blood pressure—were 19 per cent less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment, the loss of memory and brain processing power that usually precedes Alzheimer’s disease. The results of the study, called Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial, or SPRINT, were published in Journal of the American Medical Association.  

It has long been known that aggressively lowering blood pressure can benefit those at high risk for heart disease, but this is the first time the intervention has been shown to help brain health as well. 

March 2019