The Surprising Relationship Between Your Calf Muscles and Dementia

Clinical studies have shown that chronically low blood pressure elevates the risk of age-related cognitive deterioration, and many scientists think insufficient brain-blood flow is significant to the development of dementia, reports Considerable . Binghamton University researchers are attempting to specify the implications of "too low" blood pressure in individuals, which would help healthcare providers know when to intercede with correctional therapy. The team is using data from a computer-based qualitative assessment that scores cognitive function on a scale of 0 of 100, with a lower-than-50 score indicative of many characteristics of dementia syndrome. Earlier research found diastolic blood pressure to be a better predictor of cognitive performance than systolic. The study has so far uncovered two patterns in healthy persons as yet undiagnosed with dementia or any other cognitive disorder: highly common low resting diastolic pressure, and a majority of subjects with below normal pressure as well as "below normal" cognitive function range. In most people low diastolic pressure stems from low cardiac output, when insufficient blood is being returned to the heart from the lower body. The team found the calf muscles are essential to maintaining normal blood pressure when sedentary, which suggests keeping them in shape might help ward off dementia.