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Mental capacity can be affected by pressure
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025

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At this point, medicine knows that high blood pressure is the cause of loss of strength, constant migraines and general discomfort. Recent studies have shown that brain activity and human mental abilities can also depend on blood pressure.
It turned out that people with high blood pressure have a slightly slower brain response to external stimuli, which, of course, affects the speed of perception and processing of information. The dependence of the brain and blood pressure interested specialists from Australia, who conducted a series of experiments aimed at studying the above-mentioned pattern. About 500 people aged from twenty-two to eighty years took part in the experiments. During the study, the volunteers were busy passing various tests of intelligence and reaction speed.
The results obtained showed the following: all people with high blood pressure showed significantly worse results than those people who were not diagnosed with hypertension.
None of the participants took any illegal drugs, narcotics, or alcoholic beverages before the testing, so the organizers can vouch for the purity of the experiment. None of the participants smoked tobacco immediately before the experiment, and none of the volunteers suffered from mental illness or mental retardation.
Volunteers who suffered from elevated carotid artery pressure performed the worst on all possible test parameters. Those who had elevated pressure only in the brachial artery performed poorly only on visual reaction tests.
High blood pressure is a reason to think seriously about your health. It is associated with the greatest risks of myocardial infarction and heart failure, stroke and vascular diseases. High blood pressure can provoke disturbances of consciousness and perception, and even cause blindness. Some experts call hypertension (high blood pressure) a silent death. Indeed, many people do not suspect for years that their blood pressure is much higher than normal. Patients may experience headaches, bouts of nausea, unreasonable anxiety, but not everyone associates these symptoms with blood pressure.
Statistics show that over the past few years, the number of patients with high blood pressure has increased several times. Scientists' opinions are divided: some suggest that the increase in the number of patients is due to the fact that people have begun to monitor their health and consult specialists before a critical moment. Others are sure that the environment and an unhealthy lifestyle have also influenced the increase in the number of patients. Scientists have noted that the aging process in a person suffering from high blood pressure begins 10-15 years earlier than in a healthy person.