PS215 Unit 7 Brain and Health Paper Example

Twenty Years of High Blood Pressure Before One Clot: A PS215 Unit 7 Brain and Health Paper

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

PS215: Neuroscience

Unit 7 Brain and Health Paper

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The stroke survivor and his health history are composite; the research cited is real.

Harold's History

Harold's physician had recorded high blood pressure at three annual visits in his fifties. He was prescribed medication and stopped taking it after a few months because he felt fine. He snored loudly, often woke unrefreshed and had gained weight after retiring from the choir. None of this felt urgent until the morning of his stroke.

How High Blood Pressure Damages the Brain

The brain receives blood through large arteries that branch into small penetrating vessels supplying deep structures. Sustained high pressure thickens and stiffens the walls of these small vessels and damages their lining, narrowing them and making clots more likely. It also speeds the buildup of fatty plaque in larger arteries (Kalat, 2019), where plaques can rupture and send clots downstream. Over years, damaged small vessels can produce silent injuries visible on scans as small infarcts and white matter changes, which are linked to slower thinking and higher stroke risk (Iadecola et al., 2016).

Harold's stroke arrived in one morning, but the damage that made it likely had been building for two decades.

Sleep and Inactivity

Loud snoring and unrefreshing sleep suggested obstructive sleep apnea, in which the airway repeatedly closes during sleep. Each episode drops oxygen levels and triggers surges in blood pressure and heart rate, adding to the strain on vessels; untreated sleep apnea is associated with higher stroke risk. Physical inactivity compounds the problem by contributing to weight gain and higher blood pressure, while regular exercise improves blood vessel function and is associated with better cognitive health in older adults.

What the Evidence Says About Prevention

Few steps protect the brain as reliably as bringing blood pressure down. In a large trial, adults whose blood pressure was lowered to a stricter target had fewer cardiovascular events, and a later analysis of the same trial reported fewer cases of mild cognitive impairment (SPRINT MIND Investigators for the SPRINT Research Group, 2019). Treating sleep apnea, staying active and avoiding tobacco add further protection.

The Psychology of Prevention

The neuroscience explains the damage; psychology explains why Harold stopped his medication. High blood pressure causes no symptoms, so the benefit of treatment is invisible while side effects and daily effort are not. Health psychology research on adherence suggests that people are more likely to continue treatment when they understand the risk in concrete terms and when taking the medication fits an existing routine. After his stroke, Harold's pill organizer sits next to the piano he still plays each morning, and his family checks his home blood pressure readings weekly.

Conclusion

The brain's health depends on the vessels that feed it, and those vessels respond to behaviors over decades. Harold's case shows the cost of an invisible risk left untreated, and his recovery plan shows what protecting the brain looks like in daily life.

References

Iadecola, C., Yaffe, K., Biller, J., Bratzke, L. C., Faraci, F. M., Gorelick, P. B., Gulati, M., Kamel, H., Knopman, D. S., Launer, L. J., Saczynski, J. S., Seshadri, S., & Zeki Al Hazzouri, A. (2016). Impact of hypertension on cognitive function: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Hypertension, 68(6), e67-e94. https://doi.org/10.1161/HYP.0000000000000053

Kalat, J. W. (2019). Biological psychology (13th ed.). Cengage Learning.

SPRINT MIND Investigators for the SPRINT Research Group. (2019). Effect of intensive vs standard blood pressure control on probable dementia: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA, 321(6), 553-561. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.21442