Vigorous exercise may protect cognitive health in people with hypertension
- High blood pressure poses several health risks, including a potentially higher risk for cognitive impairment.
- Researchers are interested in finding what protective factors can help reduce the risk of cognitive problems among individuals with high blood pressure.
- A recent study suggests that vigorous exercise habits may help decrease the risk of future cognitive impairment.
Impairment of cognitive function can affect all aspects of a person’s life, including quality of life and day-to-day activities.
Multiple factors can contribute to someone’s risk of developing problems in cognitive function, including high blood pressure, or hypertension. Researchers are interested in finding potential protective actions that people with high blood pressure can take.
A new study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s AssociationTrusted Source examined the relationship between vigorous physical activity and risk for mild cognitive impairment among people with high blood pressure.
Researchers found that participants who engaged in one or more sessions of vigorous physical activity each week were at a lower risk for mild cognitive impairment and probable dementia.
The results suggest that vigorous exercise may help preserve cognitive function among certain individuals.
High blood pressureTrusted Source occurs when the force of blood pressing against blood vessel walls gets outside of a certain range. It can lead to damaged blood vessels and increase people’s risk for heart problems and stroke.
A normal blood pressureTrusted Source reading is less than 120/80 millimeter of mercury (mmHg), and doctors may diagnose someone with high blood pressure when a systolic reading 130 mmHg or more or when a diastolic reading is 80 mmHg or more.
Previous researchTrusted Source has also linked high blood pressure in midlife with a higher risk for cognitive disorders. The authors of the current study note that people with high blood pressure are at a higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, and mild cognitive impairment.
José Morales, MD, a vascular neurologist and neurointerventional surgeon at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica, CA, not involved in the current research, explained to Medical News Today that:
“Hypertension damages the small blood vessels in our brain and also causes them to malfunction. This results in progressive damage to the brain, which in turn leads to cognitive impairment.”
The researchers who conducted the current study wanted to evaluate if vigorous exercise helped with the risk for mild cognitive impairment and probable dementia.
This study was a post hoc analysis using data from the SPRINT MIND STUDY, which formed part of the SPRINT trial. This trial involved over 9,000 adults in the United States who had high blood pressure.
At enrolment, participants were asked about the frequency of participating in vigorous physical activity. Vigorous physical activity was defined as activities that induced sweat, increased heart rate, or increased breathing.
Participants could pick their level of vigorous physical activity from the following categories:
- rarely or never
- one to three vigorous activity sessions a month
- one vigorous activity session a week
- two to four vigorous activity sessions a week
- five or more vigorous activity sessions a week.
In the analysis, researchers divided participants into a low-vigorous physical activity group and a high-vigorous physical activity group.
The low-vigorous physical activity group had less than one vigorous activity session a week, and the high-vigorous physical activity group had one or more vigorous activity sessions a week.
All participants also underwent cognitive assessment tests, and covariates included components like age, education, smoking, use of antihypertensive medication, body mass index (BMI), and alcohol use.
The researchers excluded participants who had limited physical function or missing cognitive assessments, allowing them to include 7,670 participants in their final analysis.
The average follow-up time with participants was 4.5 years, and over this time, there were identified cases of mild cognitive impairment and probable dementia.
Overall, participants in the high vigorous physical activity group were at a lower risk for mild cognitive impairment and probable dementia.
The association was stronger among participants less than 75 years old at baseline, and Black participants. The association also appeared stronger in participants with prior cardiovascular disease.