Stroke: ‘Significantly’ reduce risk by making ‘five simple’ changes in your life

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By making “five simple” lifestyle changes, you can “significantly” reduce your risk of a stroke, the experts at the Think Ahead Stroke charity stated. As such, one of the first habits to master is to eat a healthy diet, which brings forth three beneficial factors. For starters, eating healthily can reduce your blood pressure and, mainly, consuming vegetables and fruits help to nose-dive cholesterol levels.

As an extra treat, eating whole grains and healthy fats can also help a person to maintain a healthy weight.

Combining all these factors together, a person who eats healthily can minimise their risk of heart disease and, consequently, a stroke.

Healthy swaps

  • Swap processed meat, such as bacon, for turkey or chicken
  • Swap salt for herbs, spices and lemons to flavour your food
  • Swap canned soups and stocks for home-made versions
  • Swap sugary cereal for whole-grain breakfast cereals, such as porridge
  • Swap white pasta and rice for brown pasta and rice.

The next lifestyle habit to cultivate into your daily lifestyle is moderate amounts of exercise.

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“Alcohol is high in calories and can lead to obesity and high blood pressure,” the experts at Think Ahead Stroke said.

It is also strongly recommended to be a non-smoker if you are not one already.

“Smoking doubles your risk of having a stroke,” the charity made clear.

Another key lifestyle change to implement is to manage any underlying health conditions.

There are three different types of strokes:

  • Ischaemic stroke
  • Haemorrhagic stroke
  • Subarachnoid haemorrhage.

Ischaemic stroke

Accounting for 80 percent of all strokes, the blood vessels in the brain are blocked by a clot or have become too narrow for blood to pass through.

Haemorrhagic stroke

This type of stroke occurs when the blood vessel bursts, rather than being blocked, leading to blood leaking into the brain and causing damage.

Subarachnoid haemorrhage

Usually due to a burst aneurysm (a weakness in the blood vessel wall), this is when bleeding occurs in the subarachnoid space in the brain.

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