A recent study by scientists at University College London (UCL) in Britain concluded that the speed of brain aging is associated with poor cardiovascular health, which means that heart health largely determines the true life course of the human brain, according to a report by Deutsche Welle.

The team of medical researchers from College London carried out magnetic resonance imaging scans to determine the participants’ brain age and, in this way, revealed risk factors for premature brain aging.

In particular, people’s heart health was strongly associated with brain aging, and gender also played a role. On average, women’s brains were “younger” than those of men of the same age, according to the research findings in The Lancet Health Longevity ( The Lancet Healthy Longevity).

Premature aging due to a weak heart

Scientists say that the performance of brains affected by premature aging as a result of a weak heart declines faster. Although initially subtle, these declines worsen with each decade, often becoming more noticeable in a short time, increasing the risk of cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia.

“We found that while the people in this study were all about the same age, the age that the computer model predicted for their brains differed significantly,” said Professor Jonathan Schott, head of the scientific team at University College London.

And the professor expressed his hope that “this technology will one day be a useful tool for identifying people at risk of accelerated aging, so that early and targeted preventive strategies can be provided to improve the health of their brains.”

The study found that people with poor cardiovascular health also had worse brain health, on average, than people who were otherwise healthy.

brain blood flow

And people with cerebrovascular disease, which affects blood flow in the brain, had longer brain lifespans.

For example, anyone who already had high blood pressure at age 36 is at increased risk of faster brain aging later in life, compared to people with a healthy cardiovascular system.