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High blood pressure damages brain long before old age

82 pointsby whoisnicoleover 12 years ago
...the brain integrity of a 40-year-old with hypertension, for instance, was roughly equivalent to that of a person 7.2 years older whose systolic blood pressure reading was in the normal range.

18 comments

omnisciover 12 years ago
Here is a link to the actual article, sans media bs. <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1474442212702417" rel="nofollow">http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1474442212...</a><p>Ps. lots of things can damage your brain long before you are old. Don't go flipping out because of this one article.<p>If you are interested in learning more about disease, etc, go to www.pubmed.com and search for info there. There you will find links to actual studies (not from the media) and you can inform yourself. If you are interested in a particular topic, look for review papers. NIH has mandated that these must be available to the public (free) for at least 1 year after publication.<p>Although this one article is not as bad as others, I can't stand when the media talks about scientific experiments. "This just in, study shows that normal drinking water will murder your whole family!!!!......[small font] if you are a bacteria in Antarctica and it's Tuesday night following a purple moon. [fontsize]
hluskaover 12 years ago
This article terrifies me....<p>About four years ago (when I had just turned 31), I started working at a local startup. It was the typical startup gig with huge hours and even bigger responsibility. Being somewhat dysfunctional, I began living the worst possible life. I was working huge hours, so I decided that it didn't make sense to cook. Consequently, I started eating out at least two meals a day. And, since I was working too many hours to cook, I couldn't justify going to the gym. Heck, why work out if you don't have enough time to cook???<p>Within a year, my body decided to rebel. I started getting weird symptoms - my chest often felt hollow, I'd get weird pains across the tops of my shoulders and through my neck, and occasionally, I would have to stop while walking up a flight of stairs. It wasn't because I was out of breathe, rather, it was because my head would start to spin and I was afraid that I'd fall.<p>Being stubborn, I put off going to the doctor. But, eventually, I started having bigger symptoms and I had to go. My blood pressure was extremely high. So high that my doctor took two readings, then took me into another office to try a different machine. I'll never forget that conversation:<p>- "Greg, your blood pressure is very high." - "How high?" - "High enough that if you keep doing what you're doing, you will have a stroke."<p>Hearing the word 'stroke' when you are 32 years old is a pretty big shock to the system. So, I made some changes. I went back to the gym. I started cooking. I cut my salt intake drastically. Things settled down...<p>But, as they often do, stress started creeping back into my life and my habits started to slip. My attendance at the gym started to drop off. My eating habits started to slip.<p>Things culminated one horrifying morning, when I was sitting at my desk at work and things went....well, uh...things went. Half of my body went totally numb. I looked at my computer and, even though I knew it was a computer, I could not, for the life of me, remember what the heck it was called.<p>There I was...33 years old and I saw a computer in front of me. I knew what it was for. I knew what I could do with it. But I could not, for the life of me, remember that it was called a computer. I'll never forget the sheer terror of that moment.<p>My company's Biz Dev guy rushed me to the hospital, where I got to experience a full battery of tests. Thankfully, it wasn't a stroke, but it was freakishly close. I am a touch claustrophobic so they were afraid that a CT scan would elevate my blood pressure, so they drugged me. The combination of extreme fear and a heavy dose of Ativan was unlike anything I have ever experienced. When I'm afraid of things, I like to intellectualize. I like neuroscience a whole lot, so, until the Ativan kicked in, I was rapidly going through my symptoms and trying to localize them to a region of my brain. Once the Ativan kicked in, I knew that I should likely do, uh, something, but uh, yeah, oh wow, this is, uh, pretty relaxing and.....<p>Long story short, I did not have a stroke. Rather, my blood pressure went through the roof and my body decided to flip the reset button. I took blood pressure medication for awhile and, with my doctor's help, eventually got off of it.<p>Now, I live differently, but I still see my inner demon trying to make me sick again. The old habits - working too much, exercising too little, and eating out a little too often - still rear their head. But, this time, I know that if I don't take care of myself, I might end up in the hospital again.<p>Sorry for writing so much, but I wanted to share my story. We are involved in a very stressful industry and, though I don't know many of you, I care about all of you. Please be healthy.
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tptacekover 12 years ago
I would like a credible dismissive comment to be at the top of this thread now please, because otherwise this is very bad news.
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jacques_chesterover 12 years ago
Hey guys,<p>before we post the same link to "The Best Gym for Startups: Crossfit" two dozen times, let's reflect that Crossfit has a number of issues -- completely absent quality control being chief, with poor exercise selection logic being a close second.<p>Let me put it this way: injuries per kilowatt-hour.<p>Kettlebell swings, prowler pushes, etc -- good!<p>High rep Oly lifting, high rep box jumps, kipping pullups -- terrible!<p>Crossfit does not distinguish between these exercise selection options.
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frankusover 12 years ago
It would be interesting news if intervening with blood-pressure-lowering drugs led to a reduction in brain aging against a control group.<p>For now it's just an interesting correlation, and it's kind of disappointing to see the Heart Association making recommendations based on it, particularly since the evidence for the benefits of reducing salt intake is so weak.
danjaouenover 12 years ago
Reading this article has significantly raised my blood pressure.
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revelationover 12 years ago
My body likes to shoot up my blood pressure far off the charts whenever someone tries to measure it. Of course, the pattern only grows stronger from these experiences.
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kayooneover 12 years ago
I am 29 and suffered from high blood pressure. I am not particulary overweight but not super lean either. For the past 3 years i have worked at a startup that i founded as a CEO and programmer. Ultimately we failed but it still was a superb experience but the long hours and high stress also had alot of negative impacts on my life.<p>I got high blood pressure without noticing it, i gained about 10kg in weight, lost a long term (8 years) relationship and always felt stressed and guilty of not doing enough. In the end the product didnt find success and i realized that even if i love my work and love to work hard, i dont want to sacrifice my health and life as a yound adult. Now i go to the gym 4-5 times a week and try to maintain some balance while still working hard and most importantly more efficient. Even in 8 hours of highly focused work you will get alot more done than in grinding it out for 12 hours each day, and with regular exercise you will feel much better and be healthier! I love working out, not only is my blood pressure in excellent condition again and i feel fitter than ever, but it also gives me something else than my coding work to excel at, which is very important to me.<p>This is just my experience and YMMV, but i learned it the hard way. Think of your health and happiness first!
wiggins37over 12 years ago
I hope that somebody reads this and sits down in the automatic BP machine at the drug store. Current recommendations are for everyone to have their BP checked every two years even if they have never had hypertension. Besides neurological damage you could be saving yourself a lot of grief with heart disease and kidney disease in the long term if you get your blood pressure under control early. Especially if your parents have or had high blood pressure, please get your's checked.
marzeover 12 years ago
It would be more accurate to say: High blood pressure may damage the brain, or, the factors that cause high blood pressure also damage the brain.<p>Correlation does not imply causation.
niels_olsonover 12 years ago
you know, here's a weird question: is there a market for a start-up-centric physician? I'm seeing a focus on depression and nutrition. Thoughts? How would one measure the cost-benefit? Let's say I want a house in the valley? How does one work backward from there? Has anyone visited a doctor literally lived above his clinic? The primary care side of HN actually fascinates me a little. But, wow, that would be a big, scary jump.
givanover 12 years ago
What do you think of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptical_trainer" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptical_trainer</a> to stay fit and avoid this thing of problems?<p>I don't like losing time going to the gym and this machine seems to train a large number of muscle groups and could be a good gym substitute to maintain health.
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pudover 12 years ago
There's an awkwardly worded survey question at the top of that article:<p>"Do you know if your blood pressure is in the normal range?"<p>It could mean "Do you have normal blood pressure?" or "Do you know your blood pressure?"<p>I think grammatically it means the latter, but my guess is most people are reading it as the former. I'm not sure which one the author intended.
srlakeover 12 years ago
+1 for exercise and healthy eating.<p>One of the many reasons we pay for our employees gym memberships.<p>If you really want to get in shape and turn your health around, find your local Crossfit (www.crossfit.com) gym and get hooked.
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rhokstarover 12 years ago
<a href="http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/30/the-best-gym-for-startups-crossfit/" rel="nofollow">http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/30/the-best-gym-for-startups-c...</a>
cypher517over 12 years ago
I wonder how factors associated with high blood pressure, such as diet and exercise, also contribute to the damages on the brain.
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tocommentover 12 years ago
Has anyone tried garlic to help with blood pressure? It seems there's good evidence for it.
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ExpiredLinkover 12 years ago
118:78 right now.