From this AP article, More blood pressure worry: It's linked to dementia:
“In a flurry of new research, scientists scanned people's brains to show hypertension
fuels a kind of scarring linked to later development of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. Those scars can start building up in middle age, decades before memory problems will appear.
The evidence is strong enough that the National Institutes of Health soon will begin enrolling thousands of hypertension sufferers in a major study to see if aggressive treatment — pushing blood pressure lower than currently recommended — better protects not just their hearts but their brains.”
Strength training has been shown to lower blood pressure; it is heart, brain and body healthy. The type of strength training we do at Austin Personal Training and at New Orleans Fitness Training is high intensity interval training (HIIT). It is a full body workout where a series of strength training exercises are performed with little or no rest between the exercises. With this type of personal training there is a significant cardiovascular effect along with the potential benefit of lower blood pressure. This strength training protocol has also been shown to be effective for rehab for those who have heart conditions.
A strong mind and a strong body can be achieved through exercise. Prior blog entries dealing with cognitive decline and exercise:
Moderate exercise may stall vascular dementia
Exercise Linked to Big Drop in Dementia Risk
Study: Exercise Slows Alzheimer's Brain Atrophy
Exercise Helps Increase Production Of Neural Stem Cells In Mice Brains And Helps Avoid Cognitive Impairment
