I have always had a very low blood pressure, below what's considered "normal." I never feel dizzy when standing up, though. Is this still a risk factor for dementia?
This is a question for your doctor.
Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years
31–40 of 82 posts
Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years
#32> Maintaining optimal midlife vascular health was associated with up to 12.6 additional dementia-free survival years, Stay on top of your cardiovascular health. Even moderate diet and lifestyle changes can have a significant impact on the last decade of your life. These things compound over decades.
Being human, I think more about the number of dementia years than number of dementia-free years. Could having good dietary, sleep, and exercise habits result in living longer with dementia? I've hard about cognitive reserve and how healthy lifestyle choices can build that. But I never read about ways to minimize the number of years you have to live with dementia. I wish I could sign an order that would grant me a dig…
You're looking at this from the wrong angle. The dementia risk and longevity have overlapping factors. Lifestyle choices correlated with shorter lifespan are also correlated with earlier dementia onset. They're not perfectly proportional, but getting earlier dementia and also living shorter is lose-lose.
Technically there's an extreme version of this where someone's lifestyle is so bad that they're unlikely to live past 60, but the last 10-20 years of that life would not be fun.
Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years
#33The importance of walking can not be overstated. Walking for 30 mins every other day will dramatically improve your life if you are sedentary. If you can't do 30 minutes, start with 15.
Had an uncle who swore by this. He died at 57 of ALS. That obviously doesn't mean walking is bad, I just mean to point out that even those people who believe in it as a silver bullet, can be hit with something totally out of left field. Life is really quite brutish and short. You can do all the right things, and die early. All the wrong things, and live a long time. Take care of yourself for sure, but also find a bal…
Almost nobody believes it's a silver bullet or perfect shield against disease.
It's an odds game. I don't encourage people to start going into the long tail of diminishing returns to improve their longevity at the expense of everything else, but low hanging fruit like going for a walk every day has a very high ROI in later life quality of life.
Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years
#34> Hypertension was defined as a systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg or higher, a diastolic blood pressure of 90 mm Hg or higher, or the utilization of blood pressure-lowering medications. Whoever defined this, thank you for having common sense! This stood out to me because there are so many lunatics defining it as 121/80 or even 121/70 with the backwards idea that the systolic is more important. Worse still is when…
The 120/80 benchmark isn't lunacy. Most people in the west have issues with hypertension because that's the direction it goes due to the common risk factors. If you're at 135/85, and you're middle aged / younger, and your diet and lifestyle aren't already optimized, it's something you should probably care about, not look for the next highest rung on the ladder so that you can celebrate for being below it.
You're completely missing the point. There's a significant amount of people middle aged and younger with numbers something like 125/75. They may have that same blood pressure never change from about 20 years old until their 70s.
Elsewhere they'd be borderline normal, but "in the west" (really just the USA) they're considered stage 1 hypertension and it's anyone's guess what wild nonsense the doctor will tell them once that's in their chart.
It's a total circus. Covering your own ass and screwing the patient over by assuming the worst is not preventative medicine. Overprescribing medication would cause harm if the patient is too naive for their own good despite doing everything else right. Nobody in their right mind should listen to that kind of doctor or take the medication.
Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years
#35It's mostly luck and genetics, but good sleep matters.
My mother died from Alzheimer's at 77 but wrote down her symptoms as early as 60, a full six years before her diagnosis.
Prior to her diagnosis, she walked her dog two miles a day, had an ideal weight, ate organic, never drank or smoke, used her brain constantly, and enjoyed a happy social life.
The only problem I saw with her was she was a very light sleeper.
Her aunt also died from Alzheimer's and was super healthy when diagnosed too.
Meanwhile the 103-year-old lady at my mother's former care facility is still sharp as a tack and reads daily without needing glasses.
Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years
#36The importance of walking can not be overstated. Walking for 30 mins every other day will dramatically improve your life if you are sedentary. If you can't do 30 minutes, start with 15.
Had an uncle who swore by this. He died at 57 of ALS. That obviously doesn't mean walking is bad, I just mean to point out that even those people who believe in it as a silver bullet, can be hit with something totally out of left field. Life is really quite brutish and short. You can do all the right things, and die early. All the wrong things, and live a long time. Take care of yourself for sure, but also find a bal…
The construction of GP and your post in sequence implies you think walking is not enjoyable.
GP: Go walking.
You: Instead, find a balance and enjoy life.
Walking is very enjoyable. Try it! Bonus, you'll come up with some of your best ideas!
Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
The 120/80 benchmark isn't lunacy. Most people in the west have issues with hypertension because that's the direction it goes due to the common risk factors. If you're at 135/85, and you're middle aged / younger, and your diet and lifestyle aren't already optimized, it's something you should probably care about, not look for the next highest rung on the ladder so that you can celebrate for being below it.
You're completely missing the point. There's a significant amount of people middle aged and younger with numbers something like 125/75. They may have that same blood pressure never change from about 20 years old until their 70s. Elsewhere they'd be borderline normal, but "in the west" (really just the USA) they're considered stage 1 hypertension and it's anyone's guess what wild nonsense the doctor will tell them onc…
[deleted]
Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years
#38It's mostly luck and genetics, but good sleep matters. My mother died from Alzheimer's at 77 but wrote down her symptoms as early as 60, a full six years before her diagnosis. Prior to her diagnosis, she walked her dog two miles a day, had an ideal weight, ate organic, never drank or smoke, used her brain constantly, and enjoyed a happy social life. The only problem I saw with her was she was a very light sleeper. He…
Are you aware of her APOE3/APOE4 status?
Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years
#39The importance of walking can not be overstated. Walking for 30 mins every other day will dramatically improve your life if you are sedentary. If you can't do 30 minutes, start with 15.
Had an uncle who swore by this. He died at 57 of ALS. That obviously doesn't mean walking is bad, I just mean to point out that even those people who believe in it as a silver bullet, can be hit with something totally out of left field. Life is really quite brutish and short. You can do all the right things, and die early. All the wrong things, and live a long time. Take care of yourself for sure, but also find a bal…
Nobody thinks walking is a silver bullet, ie a cure all. It's a good preventative for the most likely cause of death (heart disease).
Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lifting weights also helps. I'd argue that if someone wants to go beyond walking into running or even jogging, they ought to get their strength up so they don't have blood sugar crashes or cramps. It's never a bad idea to gain some muscle.
And don't drink alcohol
I'm not a drinker, but I think we shouldn't be so strict about it. I usually have a drink once every few months or so, and frankly I don't really care about the impact it has on my health. I suspect it's so minuscule as to not matter at all in the scheme of things.
Same with eating deep fried food. Especially if it's a food that's otherwise quite healthy. A bit of hot oil isn't going to be your undoing. Just don't make these things a habit. Enjoy a bit of indulgence, but be honest with yourself: is this once per month thing becoming a once per week thing, or a once every few days thing? Daily? Don't do that. Recognize vice. But don't be so strict that you never allow anything remotely unhealthy. Humans aren't great at abstinence.
Having said that, there's a reason I don't drink more often and it's because it really is terrible for you. I agree, haha. Just, don't pretend you'll never do bad things ever again. Unless you have far more willpower than I do — that's entirely possible.