The conclusion of a worldwide study says that we can prevent 90% of strokes regardless of age, gender, and, mostly, regions (which factors increased the risk varied by region a bit).
It’s important data. Other studies have found that strokes can happen as young as age 30, and often go undiagnosed since they are unexpected. So let’s start with something everyone should know:
F – Face
A – Arms
S – Speech
T – Time
Everyone should know how to recognize a stroke. If you think someone may be having a stroke, look for Face symmetry (Can they smile with both sides of their mouth? Does one side drift?), Arm symmetry (Can they raise both arms above their head? Or does one drift?), and is their Speech slurred?
If any of that is true, Time is of the essence, which means call 911.
Now, what are the 10 risk factors that can prevent 90% of strokes?
(The given percentage below is how much you could reduce the risk for stroke by tackling each risk factor):
-Hypertension (47.9%)
-Being Physically Inactive (35.8%)
-Lipids (26.8%)
-Poor Diet (23.2%)
-Obesity (18.6%)
-Smoking (12.4%)
-Heart related events (9.1%)
-Drinking Alcohol (5.8%)
-Stress (5.8%)
-Diabetes (3.9%)
Obviously, many of those factors often overlap. Let that motivate you: if you focus on one thing, you’ll probably knock off two or three (example: losing weight can improve diabetes AND heart health, and possibly stress, etc.).
Change doesn’t happen all at once, and little changes add up, like going on short walks, or eating a healthier snack, or drinking more water.
If you want to slip in some healthy habits, try:
-Ensuring you get nutrition each day with the safety net of a multivitamin.
-Take a moment to de-stress with some heart-health supporting tea, like our Jiaogulan Tea.
-Or, consider a daily multivitamin that focuses on supporting heart health, like Mito Cardia or krill oil.
-Join a new activity with a friend. It’s more exercise, less stress, and a friend to help you keep it up!
What are your tips? Share with us in the comments:
