Key Takeaways
- Cardiac dementia is a condition in which heart disease can increase the risk of cognitive problems.
- People with heart disease, chronic cardiovascular disease, and smokers are at higher risk for dementia psyche, which affects the body's ability to deliver oxygen and nutrients to the brain.
- Improving your heart health may improve cognitive function, but it's not true for everyone. If there is permanent brain damage, cognitive decline may be irreversible.
Dementia is generally thought of as a brain disease, but research published earlier this year showed that heart disease may increase the risk of cognitive problems. Dementia caused by heart disease also has a name, cardiac dementia. Researchers say this is being documented more widely in preclinical and clinical studies.
If left untreated, psychogenic dementia can have a negative impact on an individual's quality of life, highlighting the importance of early detection and treatment. Here's what experts want you to know about how heart health can affect your brain.
connection between brain and heart
The relationship between heart disease and dementia is complex, but researchers have several theories as to why cardiovascular health affects cognitive function.
In the early stages of heart failure, calcium flow to the heart begins to become unstable. One study found that calcium channels become overstimulated and don't close properly, preventing enough calcium from reaching heart cells. Calcium particles help the heart function, so calcium deficiency can cause or worsen heart problems.
Because the brain has similar calcium channels, researchers believe calcium leaks may also cause cognitive impairment. This may not be such a far-fetched idea. In the aforementioned study, rats with heart failure experienced calcium leakage that led to cognitive impairment.
How does heart disease affect dementia?
There are both direct and indirect ways in which heart disease can cause dementia. A direct example is heart failure.
The brain is an organ that requires sufficient oxygen and energy to function properly. When the heart is damaged by disease, “it can become a less efficient pump and the brain may not receive enough blood, oxygen and sugar to function normally,” says Richard Lipton, M.D., vice president of neurology at Einstein and Montefiore Health System. . The director of the Einstein Aging Study (EAS) told Verywell:
Another way the brain can be damaged is if the damage occurs due to heart disease related to a stroke.
“In a stroke, brain cells die due to lack of blood flow,” Lipton said. “Thrombosis can form in the heart or heart valves. “When these blood clots break, they can travel to the brain and block blood flow to certain brain areas, causing death of brain tissue and cognitive problems.”
According to Dr. Jason Cohen, a neurologist at the Montefiore-Einstein Center for the Aging Brain, dementia can also be caused indirectly by inflammation in the body.
According to Cohen, psychogenic dementia is bidirectional. In other words, brain problems can cause heart problems and vice versa.
Who is at risk for cardiac dementia?
It is perhaps not surprising that people with heart failure or congestive heart failure are at highest risk for dementia. “People with AFib (atrial fibrillation) also have a higher risk of developing dementia,” Cohen added.
Other risk groups include smokers, drug users, people with sleep apnea, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes.
“If you have high cholesterol, you are more likely to have heart problems,” Cohen said. That “bad” cholesterol creates fatty deposits in your arteries, which can cause heart disease and restrict blood flow to the brain.
How to Protect Your Brain from Heart Disease
Brain damage that causes cognitive problems may be irreversible, so prevention is important. While you can't “target” your heart with specific actions, what you can do is take some general health-related steps to protect your heart and brain.
G. Peter Gliebus, MD, a neurologist and medical director of the Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology Program at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, recommends focusing on improving heart health, which ultimately affects cognitive function.
“What this means is that controlling your blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, smoking, and weight promotes healthy heart and brain aging,” Lipton said.
If you have high blood pressure, cholesterol, or high blood sugar levels, taking prescribed medications and making lifestyle changes is important to keep these levels in check and within a healthy range.
What this means to you
Studies have shown that heart disease can affect cognitive function and even lead to cardiac dementia. So taking care of your heart health can also benefit your brain health.