The following brain health post was written by the founder of the Smartkit website- a fellowship trained, board certified neurologist who is also a member of the American Academy of Neurology.

About 25%-35% of you will develop high blood pressure (hypertension) at some point in your lives. In addition to being a major risk factor for heart attacks, hypertension is also very strongly associated with a decline in brain power.

People who have hypertension usually accumulate more and more holes in their brain over time. More holes = more cognitive impairment. For a more detailed explanation, read these earlier posts I wrote in 2006:

• High Blood Pressure and Memory Loss
• The vast majority of strokes in your brain are silent

It was with great interest, therefore, that I read this new research showing  the odds of developing hypertension increased 3.5 times for those adolescents getting less than 6.5 hours of sleep per night.

Posted: Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 12:55 am
Categories: Brain.