We know that blood vessels stiffen with age and blood pressure increases. Normal, right?
And we know prolonged high blood pressure is bad for everyone, right?
Hmm, maybe not always!
Because researchers from the University of California at Irvine have discovered a certain group of people are less likely to develop dementia as they age if they have high blood pressure.
If blood pressure does not increase as blood vessels become stiff and inflexible, too little blood makes it through them and your organs become starved of the oxygen and nutrients that the blood transports.
If blood flows too slowly, it also tends to pool and clot, which increases the likelihood of heart attacks and strokes.
The new research suggests, this may be the case with dementia too.
They collected health information from participants in the “90+” study, a study initiated in 2003 to investigate the “oldest-old” with the aim of improving the quality of life of those over the age of 90.
Scientists were able to determine which seniors over 90 were the most likely to develop dementia.
They discovered that those who developed high blood pressure in their 60s or before were likely to suffer from dementia later on. That should not be surprising.
But they also found that, compared to those with normal blood pressure:
– Those whose blood pressure increased during their 80s were 42% less likely to develop dementia during their 90s.
– Those whose blood pressure increased when they were over the age of 90 were 63% less likely to develop dementia.
So the conclusion is: if you’re in your eighties, and your blood pressure has been normal till now but is rising, this is probably a good thing. And you should not be put on hypertensive drugs.