High blood pressure, high cholesterol, and other risk factors for heart and brain health are issues that people usually don’t consider until middle age.
More and more studies have shown that it should start earlier, decades in advance.
“The factors that can be changed through lifestyle have become very important from childhood,” said Dr. Juuso Hakala, a doctoral student at the Research Center for Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Turku in Finland.
Hakala is the lead author of the data analysis of the Finnish Youth Cardiovascular Risk Study. He followed 3,596 children and adolescents for three years. In 2011, researchers conducted computer cognitive function tests on 2,000 participants and found that controlling weight, cholesterol, and blood pressure early in life affects cognitive function in adulthood.
According to this study, children with high blood pressure and cholesterol have poorer memory and learning abilities in middle age compared with children with better heart health. Those who are obese for life are less able to process information or maintain attention as they age. By the age of 40, people with all three heart risk factors have the worst performance on all brain health indicators.
The relationship between heart and brain health has been established. Good blood flow can maintain the normal operation of the two organs. Studies have shown that conditions and behaviors that damage blood vessels, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol, put the heart and brain at risk, and may lead to heart attacks, strokes, and dementia.
With the increase in childhood obesity rates in recent decades and more and more evidence that poor heart health even develops from childhood, health experts are paying more and more attention to the importance of laying the foundation early to avoid future damage.
“Lifestyle needs to be changed earlier,” said Dr. Mitchell Elkind, former president of the American Heart Association and professor of neurology and epidemiology at Columbia University Irvine Medical Center in New York. “We must spread this message among the youth population, starting with children. We know that the behaviors taken in childhood tend to last a lifetime.”
Federal guidelines recommend that children and adolescents between the ages of 6 and 17 engage in at least one hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day, and that hour includes at least 3 more vigorous activities a week to keep muscles and bones strong. They also suggest that it is important to limit the sedentary lifestyle in front of the screen.
Gabriel Shaibi, a professor at Arizona State University’s School of Nursing and Health Innovation and director of the Center for Health Promotion, said: “It’s not just about what you did, but what you didn’t do.” Health and disease prevention are in Phoenix.
He said that regardless of weight, regular physical activity “has been shown to have an impact on cognitive function, academic performance and overall performance.”
In addition, although studies have shown that obese children have a higher mortality and future risk of heart disease, if they lose extra weight as they age, the increased risk will disappear, Shaibi said. “So, are we focusing on losing weight, or are we focusing more on improving health by following physical activity guidelines and avoiding sedentary time in front of the screen?”
Many children do not get enough physical activity in their daily lives to reap the benefits of heart and brain health. According to Shaibi, getting them to stand up and exercise may be a better strategy than focusing on weight loss, which may be difficult to achieve.
“By shifting our attention from weight to behavior, we have a better chance of improving results in the medium term that are related to long-term benefits,” he said.
This does not mean that people who have not exercised most of their lives cannot now take steps to improve their heart and brain health.
“Of course, it is better to develop good habits throughout your life,” Hakara said. “But it’s never too late to start.”