Reduce Your Stroke Risk

❝Each year in the U.S., over half a million people have a first stroke; however, up to 80% of strokes may be preventable.❞

~ American Stroke Association

Source: New guideline: Preventing a first stroke may be possible with screening, lifestyle changes

So, what should we do?

Some of the risk factors are unavoidable or not usefully avoidable, like genetic predispositions and old age, respectively (i.e. it is possible to avoid old age—by dying young, which is not a good approach).

Some of the risk factors are avoidable. Let’s look at the most obvious first:

You cannot drink to your good health

While overall, the World Health Organization has declared that “the only safe amount of alcohol is zero”, when it comes to stroke risk specifically, it seems that low consumption is not associated with stroke, while moderate to high consumption is associated with a commensurately increased risk of stroke:

Alcohol Intake as a Risk Factor for Acute Stroke

Note: there are some studies out there that say that a low to moderate consumption may decrease the risk compared to zero consumption. However, any such study that this writer has seen has had the methodological flaw of not addressing why those who do not drink alcohol, do not drink it. In many cases, someone who drinks no alcohol at all does so because either a) it would cause problems with some medication(s) they are taking, or b) they used to drink heavily, and quit. In either case, their reasons for not drinking alcohol may themselves be reasons for an increased stroke risk—not the lack of alcohol itself.

Smoke now = stroke later

This one is straightforward; smoking is bad for pretty much everything, and that includes stroke risk, as it’s bad for your heart and brain both, increasing stroke risk by 200–400%:

Smoking and stroke: the more you smoke the more you stroke

So, the advice here of course is: don’t smoke

Diet matters

The American Stroke Association’s guidelines recommend, just for a change, the Mediterranean Diet. This does not mean just whatever is eaten in the Mediterranean region though, and there are specifically foods that are included and excluded, and the ratios matter, so here’s a run-down of what the Mediterranean Diet does and doesn’t include:

The Mediterranean Diet: What Is It Good For? ← what isn’t it good for?!

You can outrun stroke

Or out-walk it; that’s fine too. Most important here is frequency of exercise, more than intensity. So basically, getting those 150 minutes moderate exercise per week as a minimum.

See also: The Doctor Who Wants Us To Exercise Less & Move More

Which is good, because it means we can get a lot of exercise in that doesn’t feel like “having to do” exercise, for example:

Do You Love To Go To The Gym? No? Enjoy These “No-Exercise Exercises”!

Your brain needs downtime too

Your brain (and your heart) both need you to get good regular sleep:

Sleep Disorders in Stroke: An Update on Management

We sometimes say that “what’s good for your heart is good for your brain” (because the heart feeds the brain, and also ultimately clears away detritus), and that’s true here too, so we might also want to prioritize sleep regularity over other factors, even over duration:

How Regularity Of Sleep Can Be Even More Important Than Duration ← this is about adverse cardiovascular events, including ischemic stroke

Keep on top of your blood pressure

High blood pressure is a very modifiable risk factor for stroke. Taking care of the above things will generally take care of this, especially the DASH variation of the Mediterranean diet:

Hypertension: Factors Far More Relevant Than Salt

However, it’s still important to actually check your blood pressure regularly, because sometimes an unexpected extra factor can pop up for no obvious reason. As a bonus, you can do this improved version of the usual blood pressure test, still using just a blood pressure cuff:

Try This At Home: ABI Test For Clogged Arteries

Consider GLP-1 receptor agonists (or…)

GLP-1 receptor agonists (like Ozempic et al.) seem to have cardioprotective and neuroprotective (thus: anti-stroke) activity independent of their weight loss benefits:

Neuroprotective Mechanisms of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1-Based Therapies in Ischemic Stroke: An Update Based on Preclinical Research

Of course, GLP-1 RAs aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, and they do have their downsides (including availability, cost, and the fact benefits reverse themselves if you stop taking them), so if you want a similar effect from a natural approach, there are some foods that work on the body’s incretin responses in the same way as GLP-1 RAs do:

5 Foods That Naturally Mimic The “Ozempic Effect”

Better to know sooner rather than too late

Rather than waiting until one half of our face is drooping to know that there was a stroke risk, here are things to watch out for to know about it before it’s too late:

6 Signs Of Stroke (One Month In Advance)

Take care!