Is there anything you can do to prevent strokes? Strokes are more likely to occur as we age, as well as when we have a parent or other close relative who has had one.
The years won’t change or your family history won’t change, but there are other stroke risk factors that you can change, provided you know about them. Knowledge is power. Take steps to minimize the effects of a risk factor that is sabotaging your health and putting you at a greater risk for stroke if you know that it is causing you trouble.
10 Important Tips to Prevent Stroke
Healthy lifestyle changes and managing health conditions that raise your risk of stroke can prevent many strokes. Healthy lifestyle choices can help prevent strokes.
- Know Your Risk
Estimate the risk of cardiovascular events in the next decade if you’re 40 to 75 years old without having ever had a heart attack or stroke. It’s possible to increase your risk of early heart disease by smoking, having kidney disease, or having a family history of it. It is important for you and your health care team to be aware of your risk factors before deciding on the best course of treatment. Lifestyle changes can reduce many risk factors.
- Being Physically Active
Being active is one of the best ways to prevent disease, stay healthy, and age well. A moderate-intensity aerobic activity of at least 150 minutes a week or 75 minutes of vigorous activity is recommended for adults. Increasing your intensity can add even more benefits to your existing activity. By sitting less and moving more, you can make a big difference in your fitness level.
- Eat a Healthy Diet
Eat vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, plant-based proteins, lean animal proteins, and fish as part of your diet. Don’t consume refined carbohydrates, processed meats, or drinks that are sweetened. Make sure to read the nutrition facts label on packaged foods to reduce sodium, added sugars, and saturated fats, and to avoid trans fats.
- Quit Smoking
It is important not to start using tobacco products or smoking if you have never done so. Tobacco products are never safe. You can ask your team for help in quitting smoking or tobacco if you are having trouble giving up the habit. You shouldn’t just swap one tobacco source for another. Don’t smoke secondhand, either!
- Lose Weight
You are more likely to have a stroke if you are obese and suffer from the complications it causes (such as high blood pressure and diabetes). The loss of just ten pounds can make a significant difference in your stroke risk if you are overweight. A healthy body mass index (BMI) is less than 25, but that may not be realistic for you. Plan your weight loss strategy with your doctor.
- Manage Health Condition
In order to lower your risk of high blood pressure (hypertension), high cholesterol, high blood sugar, diabetes, or other conditions that increase your risk, you should work with your healthcare team and make lifestyle changes. It is possible to prevent or manage many conditions by eating better, exercising more, losing weight, and quitting smoking.
- Exercise More
The benefits of exercise include weight loss and lowering blood pressure, but they also stand alone as a stroke-preventative measure. Make sure you exercise at least five days a week at a moderate intensity.
- Every morning, stroll around your neighborhood after breakfast.
- Join a fitness club with friends.
- Make sure you exercise to the point where you’re breathing hard but still able to speak.
- Instead of taking the elevator, take the stairs.
- Treat Atrial Fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation occurs when the heart beats irregularly, causing clots to form. It is possible for those clots to travel to the brain, resulting in a stroke. Strokes associated with atrial fibrillation are almost five times more likely to occur and should be taken seriously. Get treated if you have atrial fibrillation.
See your doctor if you experience symptoms such as heart palpitations or shortness of breath. Your stroke risk from atrial fibrillation may be reduced with an anticoagulant drug (blood thinner), such as one of the direct-acting anticoagulants. It is your doctor’s responsibility to guide you through this treatment.
- Be a Team Player
Keeping your heart healthy and living longer can be achieved with the help of your health care team. Plan your prevention together. If you are trying to make healthy changes, ask questions and talk about any challenges you may encounter. A wide range of factors can affect your health and well-being, including stress, sleep, mental health, family situations, tobacco use, food accessibility, social support, and many more.
- Understand the Things You Can’t Control
You can reduce your risk of stroke by improving your diet, increasing your exercise, and living an active lifestyle; however, there are some risk factors that you cannot change. While you can’t change things like age, gender, or race, it’s important to know if you’re more susceptible to stroke based on these factors.
Now preventing stroke is easy with these keys. To save your life and follow the above-mentioned tips that prevent stroke and other diseases.
