Brain health Archive

A 2023 study suggests that sleep problems such as snoring, snorting, or getting too much or little sleep can significantly raise the odds of having a stroke.

Recently published research suggests that a daily multivitamin may improve memory enough such that it can function as if you were three years younger. We take a closer look at the study.

Most strokes are caused by a clot that blocks a blood vessel in the brain. Those that damage small areas of brain tissue that don't control any vital functions are known as silent strokes because they don't cause any noticeable symptoms.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD), which occurs when fatty deposits clog arteries outside the heart, is underrecognized and potentially dangerous. The hallmark symptom is leg pain that occurs with exercise, called intermittent claudication. PAD is more common among people who are older, who smoke, and who have diabetes. The recommended treatment involves short periods of walking interspersed with rest periods when pain occurs. Walking increases blood flow in the leg's smaller arteries and helps create new channels to move blood around the blockages; it also helps discourage new blockages.

The more salt people eat, the greater their risk of clogged heart and neck arteries, a 2023 study suggests. Narrowed arteries (atherosclerosis) can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

COVID-19 may increase the risk of cardiovascular problems, including heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism, atrial fibrillation, and heart failure, up to a year after the infection. But vaccination appears to lower these risks. Getting just one dose of a COVID vaccine may halve the risk of myocarditis, a rare condition that causes inflammation of the heart muscle that can arise after viral infections.

A 2023 study suggests that some brain changes in people with obesity appear similar to those that occur in people with Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia.

In a 2023 study of more than 28,000 older adults, those who reported socializing the most frequently lived the longest, compared with people who said they didn't socialize.