The Brain Health Mission Podcast
Aug 17, 2026 · 33 min · 11 segments
High blood pressure is often thought of primarily as a cardiovascular issue—but it is also a major risk factor for brain health. In this episode of the Brain Health Mission Podcast, Jana…
Thomas LüscherGuest
Jana Midelfart-HoffHostThomas, when we have experts on our podcast, we also use the, the opportunity to bust a couple of, uh, health myths that are wandering around, and there is one particularly about hypertension.
Because many people think that if they feel okay, then their blood pressure must be okay, too.
But even so, the blood pressure has been described, or elevated blood pressure has been described as the silent killer.
Can, uh, is it true that if you don't feel anything in particular, do not feel more tired, do not feel exhausted, then your blood pressure is okay and you don't need to measure it? Or is it more subtle than that?
It's quite clear that normally blood pressure doesn't do, uh, induce any symptoms except if it's very high.
You know, for instance, uh, Ro- Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, had a blood pressure of, uh, 200, 300 over 190, where a couple days before he had a fatal, uh, brain hemorrhage.
There's a famous case, uh, that has been described, uh, in the literature, and, uh, at that time people felt that the blood pressure is not a risk factor, so the doctor said, you know, comes out of the blue, uh, blue sky, but it wasn't.
And, uh, at this very high levels, of course, people have headache commonly or more frequently, but in the blood pressures we see today between 120 and 200, usually people don't feel anything at all.
So what you're saying is that mo- in most cases you won't feel that your, your blood pressure is being elevated in a chronic state, but you just mentioned a little into that.
But are there symptoms that should alarm you if you suddenly developed and could point towards an elevated blood pressure?
Of course, if it's very severe blood pressure of 220, 250, uh, as we saw it in, in the old days, now much, much less common, then, uh, it can ac- actually induce brain edema.
... of course, there would be severe neurological symptoms, but that's very rare today.
So Thomas, could we conclude that people shouldn't take for granted that their blood pressure is okay, uh, even if they feel good or not feel any altered at all, that the best thing to do is on a regular basis to get your blood pressure measured?
I mean, we did a survey in Switzerland with 3,500 individuals, and most of them knew their blood pressure, which is a huge progress compared to when I was a fellow in hypertension.
Uh, today, uh, uh, blood pressure is the risk factor most people know about, and they usually also know their own blood pressure, unlike Blood sugar and lipids.
And, uh, uh, but what a normal blood pressure is, that is, of course, a bit different because the, the norm values have changed massively.
You know, when I was a fellow they said 100, uh, plus age, then we said 160 over 95.
Thomas, when we have experts on our podcast, we also use the, the opportunity to bust a couple of, uh, health myths that are wandering around, and there is one particularly about hypertension.
Because many people think that if they feel okay, then their blood pressure must be okay, too.
But even so, the blood pressure has been described, or elevated blood pressure has been described as the silent killer.
Can, uh, is it true that if you don't feel anything in particular, do not feel more tired, do not feel exhausted, then your blood pressure is okay and you don't need to measure it? Or is it more subtle than that?
It's quite clear that normally blood pressure doesn't do, uh, induce any symptoms except if it's very high.
You know, for instance, uh, Ro- Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, had a blood pressure of, uh, 200, 300 over 190, where a couple days before he had a fatal, uh, brain hemorrhage.
There's a famous case, uh, that has been described, uh, in the literature, and, uh, at that time people felt that the blood pressure is not a risk factor, so the doctor said, you know, comes out of the blue, uh, blue sky, but it wasn't.
And, uh, at this very high levels, of course, people have headache commonly or more frequently, but in the blood pressures we see today between 120 and 200, usually people don't feel anything at all.
So what you're saying is that mo- in most cases you won't feel that your, your blood pressure is being elevated in a chronic state, but you just mentioned a little into that.
But are there symptoms that should alarm you if you suddenly developed and could point towards an elevated blood pressure?
Of course, if it's very severe blood pressure of 220, 250, uh, as we saw it in, in the old days, now much, much less common, then, uh, it can ac- actually induce brain edema.
... of course, there would be severe neurological symptoms, but that's very rare today.
So Thomas, could we conclude that people shouldn't take for granted that their blood pressure is okay, uh, even if they feel good or not feel any altered at all, that the best thing to do is on a regular basis to get your blood pressure measured?
I mean, we did a survey in Switzerland with 3,500 individuals, and most of them knew their blood pressure, which is a huge progress compared to when I was a fellow in hypertension.
Uh, today, uh, uh, blood pressure is the risk factor most people know about, and they usually also know their own blood pressure, unlike Blood sugar and lipids.
And, uh, uh, but what a normal blood pressure is, that is, of course, a bit different because the, the norm values have changed massively.
You know, when I was a fellow they said 100, uh, plus age, then we said 160 over 95.
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