How Brain And Heart Are Connected

The heart and the brain are very closely related, and they rely strongly on each other. The heart guarantees an optimal blood supply to the brain to meet the brain’s high oxygen and glucose needs and a dedicated brain circuitry controls the activities of the various components of the heart to help achieve its best functioning.

Heart disease and brain disease share many of the same risk factors. Cardiovascular disease risk factors, or the unhealthy health behaviours and conditions that can lead to heart attacks, include high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol, and obesity.

These same risk factors also lead to strokes, which are injuries to the brain caused by blood vessel disorders. They also contribute to other brain disease like cognitive decline and dementia.

Unhealthy heart, unhealthy brain

The 2022 Update of the American Heart Association’s Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics emphasises the interconnected relationship between brain and heart health. A meta-analysis of 139 studies found that people with high blood pressure in their midlife were 55% more likely to develop impaired cognition and about 20% more likely to experience impaired working memory, inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility, dementia, or Alzheimer’s disease.

Another meta-analysis of four studies found that people with heart failure were 80% more likely to develop dementia. Some health conditions and unhealthy habits can damage blood vessels, putting your heart and your brain at risk for serious problems.

1. Heart attack

A heart attack occurs when an artery that sends blood and oxygen to the heart is blocked due to plaque build-up or a blood clot blocks blood flow to the heart. Without blood, tissue loses oxygen and dies.

2. Stroke

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to work properly, your brain needs oxygen. Your arteries deliver oxygen-rich blood to all parts of your brain.

If something happens to block the flow of blood (like when the blood supply to part of the brain is impacted or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts), brain cells start to die within minutes, because they can’t get oxygen. This causes a stroke.

Sometimes called a ‘brain attack’, when a stroke occurs, parts of the brain become damaged or die. A stroke can cause lasting brain damage, long-term disability, or even death.

3. Vascular dementia

Research has shown a strong link between cardiovascular disease, involving the heart and blood vessels, and cerebrovascular disease, involving the brain, and subsequent cognitive impairment and dementia.

Vascular dementia is caused by different conditions that interrupt the flow of blood and oxygen supply to the brain and damage blood vessels in the brain. It can happen as a result of a series of small, ‘silent’ strokes, or ‘mini-strokes’. Dementia can cause memory loss, slowed thinking, and personality changes.

Hypertension among the youth and brain implications

Blood pressure is a significant factor in heart and brain health. Every organ system depends not only on the supply of blood but also the health of the blood vessels that supply that blood—the extent to which they can expand when an organ needs more blood flow. Healthy blood vessels lead to increased blood flow and oxygenation of organs, including the brain.

A CDC study shows that about 1 in 25 young adults between the ages 12 to 19 have hypertension, and 1 in 10 has elevated blood pressure. High blood pressure is more common in obese or significantly overweight adolescents.

According to the American Heart Association, hypertension among young men and women commonly shows effects on the heart and the vascular system, including a thickening of the wall of the heart’s main pumping chamber, increased thickening of the carotid artery, and increased arterial stiffness. There is emerging evidence that even those adolescents with moderate hypertension suffer adverse effects on the brain which impacts their cognition later in life.

According to a 2019 study in the journal ‘Hypertension’, treatment of hypertension in early adulthood, can give you an opportunity to alleviate later cognitive decline and improve cognitive health.

Steps to a healthy brain and heart

Diet and lifestyle can have a profound effect on both brain and heart wellness. High blood pressure is a treatable condition, and if you monitor and treat high blood pressure proactively, you could have a positive benefit on brain wellness.

A healthier lifestyle can help retain their robust functioning all your life, to reduce memory loss as you grow older, as also have beneficial effects on mood and energy.

For young adults

Ask your doctor to measure your child’s blood pressure starting at age 3. Helping children keep a healthy weight, and get regular physical activity can lower their blood pressure and reduce their risk for cardiovascular disease later in life.

Offer nutritious, lower-calorie foods such as fruits and vegetables in place of foods high in added sugars and solid fats. Try serving more fruits and vegetables at meals and as snacks. Offer foods that are low in salt because salt/sodium raises blood pressure.

Help your child stay active every day. Cut down on screen time and encourage them to play age-appropriate robust outdoor games as much as possible.

For adults

For your children to accept a healthier lifestyle, you will need to be a role model. Here’s what you could do…

1. Have a plant-based diet

• Certain foods lead to better health and other foods worsen health. Wrong diet gradually damages blood vessels. Atherosclerosis starts in childhood, and atherosclerotic plaque develops over decades, with heart and brain sickness occurring later in life.
• A plant-rich or plant-based diet that places a premium on fresh fruits, nuts, vegetables, healthy fats, and grains tends to work better for your health than meals heavy in meat. Include in your family’s meals green, leafy vegetables. like kale, spinach, collards, and broccoli, strawberries and blueberries, fatty fish, olive oil, flaxseeds, avocados, and walnuts.
• Diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids have been linked to lower blood pressure and cleaner arteries. That's good for both the heart and brain. Have green tea and modest quantities of coffee, and dark chocolate.
• Avoid processed foods, white flour products, partially hydrogenated oils and animal products.
• Limit foods with added sugars and saturated fats, and lower your salt intake. If you drink alcohol, drink in moderation.

2. Get daily exercise

• Moving your body can help your brain work better. Daily exercise can help you sleep and feel better, and add years to your life.
• Physical exercise, and aerobic exercise in particular, is very beneficial for maintaining brain health. Physical activity can help you think better, learn, enjoy sharper memory, and enjoy an emotional balance. It can reduce anxiety or depression. It can also reduce your risk of cognitive decline, including dementia.
• Physical activity can promote cardiovascular health and what’s good for the heart is good for the brain! It also improves blood flow to your brain, reduces inflammation and lowers levels of stress hormones.

3. Manage stress

• Stress can affect how the brain functions. It affects not only memory and many other brain functions, like mood and anxiety, but also promotes inflammation, which adversely affects heart health.
• Stress may contribute to poor health behaviour like smoking, comfort-eating, lack of physical activity, poor sleep etc. that are linked to increased risk for heart disease and stroke.
• Practicing relaxation techniques, making Yoga or Tai Chi a daily part of your life, getting a regular exercise, finding a stimulating hobby, getting a digital detox from time to time, surrounding yourself with caring connections etc. can all distract you from negativity and pessimism.

4. Get enough sleep

• Good-quality sleep gives your heart the much-needed rest by reducing its work and lowering the blood pressure and heart rate at night.
• Sleep is important to a number of brain functions, including how nerve cells communicate with each other. In fact, your brain and body stay remarkably active while you sleep.
• Sleep is restorative, whereas sleep deprivation lowers your resistance to stress and harms your brain. Lack of sleep interferes with memory and learning. You're more forgetful, and your attention is short-circuited.

5. Have probiotics and prebiotics

• Gut health is essential for both the health of the brain and the heart. Imbalances in the composition of gut bacteria have been associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
• Probiotic foods like fermented rye sourdough, kimchi, kefir, sauerkraut and kombucha and probiotic supplements can increase beneficial bacteria.

Conclusion

There’s a close link between the health of the heart and the health of the brain. Many factors that damage the heart or blood vessels may also damage the brain. But many cardiovascular disease risk factors can be modified by better lifestyle choices to decrease the likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease. Controlling heart risk factors may be the most effective approach to protecting your brain health.