Simple Lifestyle Strategies Can Decrease Your Stroke Risk

Did you know that up to 80% of strokes are preventable?  Lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, body mass index, blood sugar levels, blood pressure, and smoking can have a direct bearing on your individual risk.

According to the National Stroke Association, stroke is the number one cause of long-term disability and the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.

The most common type of stroke is called "ischemic stroke," which results from an obstruction in a blood vessel supplying blood to your brain. Once you suffer a stroke, the damage, should you survive it, can be absolutely devastating.

Daniel Lackland, a professor of neuroscience at the Medical University of South Carolina and a spokesman for the American Heart Association, has developed a scale of lifestyle factors that have a bearing on stroke risk, called the “Life’s Simple Seven” scale, which includes:

·        Get active

·        Control your cholesterol

·        Eat better

·        Manage your blood pressure

·        Lose weight

·        Reduce your blood sugar, and

·        Stop smoking

Some changes can give you a really great payoff.  The study showed that reducing your systolic blood pressure by 20 millimeters of mercury, decreases your risk of stroke by 50%!  Not smoking, or quitting smoking equated to a 40% lower risk.

Even small changes can significantly reduce your chances for having a stroke.

For More Information:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/06/24/lifestyle-changes-may-decrease-stroke-...