Swimming with sharks, tightrope walking across a chasm, or leaping from a cliff are some of the striking visual warnings on posters for the Mind Your Risks public health campaign, launched by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).
To raise awareness of how uncontrolled high blood pressure is linked to stroke, cognitive decline, and dementia, the NINDS is partnering with other groups, such as the CDC’s Million Hearts and the What Is Brain Health campaign, sponsored by the HHS Administration for Community Living.
The website, https://mindyourrisks.nih.gov, links to a variety of tools and resources available at the partner sites to help educate about high blood pressure. The website also hosts summaries of scientific studies on high blood pressure and dementia or cognitive impairment, including findings from Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities, an epidemiologic study whose data have been published in more than 800 articles in peer-reviewed journals.
The CDC provides fact sheets on stroke and heart disease, podcasts on heart healthy diets, PDFs on high blood pressure in English and Spanish, and other resources. The Million Hearts Team Up. Pressure Down program provides animated videos on treatment, handouts, a medication tracker wallet card, and more. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute resources include a Google hangout video on “Myth-busting blood pressure.”