Brain Health News Roundup: Brain Health Is Really Whole Body Health

There have been quite a few stories in the news the past few days about brain health, with many showing links to other health issues. Even recently, the link between brain health and the rest of the body -- especially the cardiovascular system -- was not obvious, but these five new studies show just how tied together they are:

• Arterial Thickening Slows Up Your Brain Now, Increases Stroke Risk Later
• New Alzheimer's Diagnostic Tools Focus On Ability To Remember Your Life
• Exercise in Midlife Protects The Brain Years Later
• Cognitive Decline Linked to Poor Sleep
• Poorer Brain Performance Also Linked to Hypertension

Arterial Thickening Slows Up Your Brain Now, Increases Stroke Risk Later

Carotid artery disease -- the narrowing of the neck artery that brings blood to the brain -- may cause declining mental performance.

The constricted artery results in lower blood flow to the brain, which impairs verbal memory and cognitive function.

Risk factors for CAD include smoking, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol levels.

The new study indicates that carotid artery disease can cause brain performance to decline years before it becomes a significant stroke risk.

Source: MedPageToday.com

New Alzheimer's Diagnostic Tools Focus On Ability To Remember Your Life

Researchers working on new, global standards for diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease say that gradually worsening ability to recall past life events should be used as a key indicator for diagnosing the condition.

This differs from earlier recommendations, which said that developing dementia should be the key diagnostic criterion. Dementia is a more general impairment of intellectual function.

The proposed new standard says that worsening "episodic memory deficit" over a period of six or more months should be the center of the diagnosis, but not the only factor. An Alzheimer's diagnosis requires one or more other physical, chemical, or metabolic changes, or genetic testing showing a predisposition to the disease.

Episodic memory is the ability to recall times, places, and events in one's life.

The new standards should allow for earlier Alzheimer's diagnosis.

Sources: Abstract and an analysis.

Exercise in Midlife Protects The Brain Years Later

People who exercise regularly in midlife have a lower incidence of stroke-like brain damage forty years later. We have more here.

Cognitive Decline Linked to Poor Sleep

Poor sleep patterns in apparently healthy women has been linked to abnormal cognitive decline later in life. Women with an average age in their late sixties who did poorly on a test of cognitive decline were 70% more likely to have poor "sleep efficiency."

It's not clear whether the poor sleep has any causal relationship to subsequent cognitive decline, whether the relationship runs the other way, or if there are other factors linking the two -- such as a degenerative condition tied to Alzheimer's that also affects the brain regions responsible for sleep.

One of the investigators said this was "the first study to look at the relationship between sleep and cognition in healthy women ... who did not have dementia to begin with."

Sources: Abstract and article.

Poorer Brain Performance Also Linked to Hypertension

Hypertension in people 65+ causes a 70% increase in the risk of mild cognitive impairment (link).

Hypertension affected the brain's executive function, but not memory or language. The executuve function is responsible for organizing and managing the rest of the brain.

Long term studies also link hypertension with a higher risk for dementia, the more severe loss of cognitive function.