A stroke can be prevented 9 times out of 10 by changing our actual lifestyle.

Discover how to prevent it in 90% of the cases!

Stroke nowadays is a disease that occurs more and more often, infact just  in Italy each year we have about 200thousand cases.  A stroke is an injury to the brain caused by an interruption of the blood flow by artery obstruction or breakage, leading to neurons death.  A stroke can hit suddenly both young and old people (the latter have a higher percentage) without any notice or pain.  A heartbreaking and fundamental fact is that 20% of the people hit by a stroke for the first time die within a month, another 10% within the first year.  A third of the rest survive but with a high level of disability.  Currently The stroke is the third cause of death in italy, after heart disease and cancer, and it is the first cause of disability in the whole world.

Thanks to these figures it is simple to understand the importance of the risk factors and how to intervene.

RISK FACTORS AND BAD HABITS

According to an international study held on 27000 people from 32 different countries, lead by Dr. Martin O’Donnell from the McMaster of the University of Hamilton in Canada, A stroke is preventable 9 times out of 10 on the basis of 10 factors linked to the lifestyle, therefore almost completely changeable.  The scholars have hence calculated what would be the effect if one or more risk factors were removed and how this could reduce the frequency of the stroke, they have also listed a ranking of the factors that strongly effect.  In the first place we find hypertension (high blood pressure), followed by physical inactivity: yes it has been proven that the probability of getting a stroke is reduced by a third in those who keep themselves active and moving.  In the third place we find blood fat; next incorrexct or bad eating habits and obesity.  Followed by smoking, heart disease, stress, alcohol and diabetes.

Summing up briefly here are the 10 most common risk factors on which we can also intervene:

  • High blood pressure
  • physical inactivity
  • blood fat
  • bad eatinng habits
  • obesity
  • smoking
  • heart disease
  • stress
  • alcohol
  • diabetes

Previous studies had already higlighted what an important role the lifestyle played in the risk of getting a stroke and how much could be done to prevent it, always reminding us that it can either be fatal or leave permanent damage and disability.  The new discovery or even better the latest news is that researchers calculated how many strokes can be avoided if a certain risk factor disappeared.  The number can pratically be halfed if high blood pressure was eliminated at world level (-48% of the cases); it could be reduced by more than one third (-36%) if people were physically active; reduce by almost one fifth (-19%) if we all followed a healthy diet.  Furthermore if obesity was eliminated the  cases of strokes could be reduced by 18.6% in the whole world.  The number of strokes could be reduced by 12% if the smoking habit was removed internationally; and it could be reduced by a further 9% if all the causes of heart disease were constantly monitored.  We still have diabetes (responsible for 4% of the cases), alcohol consumption (6%), stress (6%) and the presence of fat in the blood (not only cholesterol).

Many of these risk factors are linked together, therefore it is quite clear that by reducing obesity we will at the same time reduce diabetes, blood fat and very often inactivity too.

The conclusion of these researches reconfirm the previous results, hence if we eliminated all the risk factors all over the world, we could avoid 9 cases of stroke out of 10, that is 90% of the cases.

WHICH ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF A STROKE UNDERWAY

The symptoms can appear suddenly and they are:

-Weakness or numbness in the face, arms or legs (especially on one side)

-confusion, difficulty of speech and understanding

-sight problems

-dizziness, difficulty in walking, loss of balance

-very strong headaches with no apparent cause

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