Stroke, How To Avoid Getting A Stroke

Mobility is an important determinant of the quality of life in old age. To be mobile, one has to avoid getting a stroke.

Stroke may be avoided, through the adoption of healthy lifestyle to eliminate stroke risk factors, eating A healthy diet, and promptly, taking medications, when appropriate, to control the factors.

What is stroke?
Stroke is a sudden impairment of a neurological function, traceable to a vascular lesion in the brain, retina or the spinal cord.

The vascular lesion may be a blockage (blood clot, cholesterol plaque) causing ischemia, or rupture of a weakened blood vessel due to long standing hypertension, or an aneurysm.

When there is Interruption in blood supply to any part of the brain, the affected brain tissues begin to die and when prolonged, this could result in permanent disability.

RISK FACTORS FOR STROKE
Hypertension
High cholesterol
Diabetes mellitus
Tobacco use
Cocaine use
Alcohol use
Heart disease like Atrial fibrillation, dilated heart that enhance clot formation.

Congenital vascular malformations, like arteriovenous malformation which could rupture.

STROKE PREVENTION: controlling the risk factors

1.) Control Hypertension.
Hypertension, by far, is the commonest cause of stroke among blacks.

Everyone needs to measure their blood pressure, to know their numbers, and treat them if the pressure is persistently, elevated

Normal blood pressure should not be higher than 120/79mmHg.

Lifestyle and dietary modifications do help lower blood pressure.

Eat more fruits vegetables, and nuts; they have minerals that dilate blood vessels.

Avoid fatty and salted foods, they clog and weaken blood vessels. Avoid red meat, Maggi cube.

Do exercise/workouts, a minimum of 30-45 minutes a day for at least 5 days in a week.

2.) Exercise more
In addition to lowering weight and blood pressure, exercise helps to prevent stroke.

If you do not exercise, you get stroke (and heart attack too).

Duration of exercise
The recommended minimal duration of exercise each week is 150 minutes or, 30 minutes a day, 5 days/week. There are additional benefits if we prolong the duration to up to 450 minutes /week, or 90 minutes a day 5 days/week.

You can break the exercise activity into 15-20minute sessions, several times a day.

Intensity of Exercise.
You can increase your exercise intensity to any level, at which you are breathing hard, but can still talk.

Type of exercises include: walking faster, jogging, running, skipping rope, jumping jacks, or any activities that raises your heartbeat to around 120bpm or higher.

WEIGHT LOSS
If you are Obese or overweight, when you drop weight, you reduce your chance of stroke.

This is because, obesity is related to 3 of the stroke risk factors. (diabetes, hypertension and abnormal lipids)

One loses weight by cutting down on amount of food they eat, and increasing the amount of exercises they do.

You could lose 1LB body weight each week, if you cut your calorie intake down by 500 each day. (3500calories equate 1LB)

Replace fatty and starchy food with vegetables and fruits.

Incorporate activities like fast walk, soccer, golf, basketball, swimming, into your daily routine

STOP SMOKING, & STOP USING COCAINE
Tobacco damages the inside layer of blood vessels and promotes plaque formation.

Cocaine causes narrowing of blood vessels. Cocaine use, also leads to heart attacks, by same mechanism

LIMIT ALCOHOL INTAKE:
The goal is to avoid alcohol. Red wine contains resveratrol, which protects the heart, brain and other organs. This is cool, if you have only one drink a day. Once you exceed 2 drinks per day, your risk for stroke, goes up sharply.

CONTROL ATRIAL FIBRILLATION
In atrial fibrillation, the heart is not contracting effectively. Contractions are weak and haphazard. This could lead to clot formation. Clot in the brain circulation causes ischemic stroke.

Alcohol can lead to Atrial fibrillation.
Those with Atrial fibrillation need to take medications that control the heart rate, and medications that prevent clot formation.

CONTROL DIABETES MELLITUS
High blood sugar damages blood vessels over time, and helps in clot formation.

Control your blood sugars with a combination of dietary and lifestyle changes, and take sugar lowering medications as directed by a physician.

HIGH CHOLESTEROL
High bad cholesterol (LDL-Cholesterol) leads to plaque formation.

Control your cholesterol with high plant-based diet exercise and cutting down on calories, and use statin medications when appropriate.

Heart disease and stroke share a common etiology. Improving one condition, improves the other.

WHAT ARE SYMPTOMS OF STROKE?
Sudden severe headache, usually accompanied by dizziness, and altered consciousness

Sudden blurring in vision, sudden double vision.
Sudden facial numbness weakness leading to one sided facial droop when smiling

Sudden trouble walking including stumbling, loss of balance

Sudden trouble speaking, hearing or understanding spoken words

Sudden weakness in one arm.
Stroke is a medical emergency, for if the stroke is due to a blood clot, the stroke could be reversed with medication, when caught early. If not caught early, disability could be very severe and prolonged.