Having a Healthy Heart Can Make Your Brain Healthy Too, Study Says

It has been recently revealed that having a healthy heart can maintain brain processing and cognitive function over time. Researchers at the University of Miami in Florida and Columbia University have found evidence that can directly link an elderly person's cognitive abilities to the quality of their heart.

Experts were trying to figure out whether meeting certain parameters of a healthy heart can impact people's cognitive abilities. The Medical Daily reported that for the study, the researchers followed a guideline made by the American Heart Association's Life's Simple Seven ® of how to achieve a healthy heart. The guideline included the avoidance of tobacco, having an active lifestyle, eating a healthy diet, maintaining a good BMI, at the same time having a normal blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose levels.

For the study, the team included more than 1,000 men and women aged 40 and had their brains tested for their memory and brain processing abilities, example how quick they could do a task that required intensive focus. After 6 years, these people were tested again. The results showed that having more of the healthy heart factors can mean having a better brain processing in later years. The result also revealed that there is a direct association between having a healthy heart and a fewer incidence of a decrease in brain functions like memory and executive functions like time management, Time reported.

Lead author of the study, Hannah Gardener, an epidemiologist at University of Miami said that achieving these factors is really essential not just for the heart's health but for the brain's health as well. "Some people may be more motivated by preserving their cognitive health. So I think it's important to emphasize that striving to achieve ideal levels on these seven factors may also help preserve cognitive health later in life."