If you feel lightheaded while standing up, ‘you may be at risk of dementia’

People who feel faint, dizzy or lightheaded while standing up may be experiencing a drop in blood pressure called orthostatic hypotension.

Dementia is an overall term that describes a group of symptoms associated with a decline in memory or other thinking ability.

According to a new study, the drop in blood pressure increases the risk of developing dementia or stroke decades later.

The study, published in the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, involved 11,709 people with an average age of 54.

The test subjects were monitored for an average of 25 years, with participants being met five times over the period.

It was also said that none of the participants had a heart condition or stroke before they were recruited into the study.

“Orthostatic hypotension has been linked to heart disease, fainting and falls, so we wanted to conduct a large study to determine if this form of low blood pressure was also linked to problems in the brain, specifically dementia,” said Andreea Rawlings, a lead researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dementia affects 47 million people all over the world and is projected to increase to 75 million by 2030 according to the World Health Organization (WHO).