KEY IS IN THE BLOOD

KEEPING blood pressure at an ideal level can help a person’s brain age slower – six months slower in fact.

Scientists at Australian National University are calling for national health guidelines to be updated to reflect their findings.

Their study found participants with high blood pressure had older and therefore less healthy brains, increasing their risk of heart disease, stroke and dementia.

Authors warned, however, the idea of peoples’ brains becoming unhealthy due to high blood pressure later in life was not exactly true.

It starts earlier and it starts in people who have normal blood pressure, they said.