What To Do If Having A Stroke Alone?

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It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

Have a question or a request? We love to hear from you!

In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

So, no question/request too big or small 😎

❝Thank you for the video about what to do if you have a heart attack alone, what about what to do if you have a stroke alone?❞

(for anyone who missed that video, here it is)

That’s a good question, especially as stroke risk is rising in the industrialized world in general, and the US in particular.

However, let’s start with the caveat that if you are having a stroke, there’s a good chance you will forget what we are about to say, what with the immediate effects it has on the brain. That said…

The general advice when it comes to looking after someone else who is experiencing a stroke, is, “don’t”.

In other words, call emergency services, and don’t do anything else, e.g:

  • don’t give them anything to eat or drink
  • don’t give them any medications
  • don’t let them go to sleep
  • don’t let them talk you out of calling emergency services
  • don’t let them drive themselves to hospital
  • don’t drive them to hospital yourself either*

*This is for two reasons:

  1. an ambulance crew has skills and resources that you don’t, and can begin treatment en-route, and also,
  2. not all hospitals have appropriate resources to treat stroke, so the ambulance crew will know to drive to one that does, instead of driving to a random hospital and hoping for the best

So, flipping this for if it’s you having the stroke, and you’re cognizant enough to remember this:

  • do call an ambulance; stay on the line and don’t do anything else unless instructed by the emergency services.

In order to do that, of course it’s important to recognize the symptoms; you probably know these but just in case, the mnemonic is “FAST”:

  • Face: is there weakness on one side of their face?
  • Arms: if they raise both arms, does one drift downwards?
  • Speech: if they speak, is their speech slurred or otherwise unusual?
  • Time: to call emergency services

It’s great to not get caught out by surprise, so you might also want to check out:

6 Signs Of Stroke (One Month In Advance)

Take care!

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  • Should You Soak Your Nuts?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!

    In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

    As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

    So, no question/request too big or small

    ❝hi. how many almonds should one eat per day? do they need to be soaked? thank you.❞

    Within reason, however many you like! Given that protein is an appetite suppressant, you’ll probably find it’s not too many.

    Dr. Michael Greger, of “How Not To Die” fame, suggests aiming for 30g of nuts per day. Since almonds typically weigh about 1g each, that means 30 if it’s all almonds.

    And if you’re wondering about 10 almonds? The name’s a deliberate reference to an old internet hoax about 10 almonds being the equivalent of an aspirin for treating a headache. It’s a reminder to be open-mindedly skeptical about information circulating wildly, and look into the real, evidence-based, science of things.

    • Sometimes, the science validates claims, and we’re excited to share that!
    • Sometimes, the science just shoots claims down, and it’s important to acknowledge when that happens too.

    On which note, about soaking…

    Short version: soaking can improve the absorption of some nutrients, but not much more than simply chewing thoroughly. See:

    Soaking does reduce certain “antinutrients” (compounds that block absorption of other nutrients), such as phytic acid. However, even a 24-hour soak reduces them only by about 5%:

    Determination of d-myo-inositol phosphates in “activated” raw almonds using anion-exchange chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry

    If you don’t want to take 24-hours to get a 5% benefit, there’s good news! A 12-hour soak can result in 4% less phytic acid in chopped (but not whole) almonds:

    The Effect of Soaking Almonds and Hazelnuts on Phytate and Mineral Concentrations

    Lest that potentially underwhelming benefit leave a bitter taste in your mouth, one good thing about soaking almonds (if you don’t like bitter tastes, anyway) is that it will reduce their bitterness:

    Bitter taste, phytonutrients, and the consumer: a review

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  • Healing Spices – by Dr. Bharat Aggarwal & Debora Yost

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    This is exactly what the subtitle promises it to be, and more. It’s actually herbs and spices, but definitely mostly spices, and includes the kinds found in even the smallest supermarket, to some you might not have heard of, and might need to order online.

    We are treated to an explanation of the health-giving properties of each (and any potential contraindications), as well as the culinary properties, many tables of what goes with what and how and why, and even recipes to use them in. For the more adventurous, there’s even advice on how to grow, prepare, and store each of them.

    An extra benefit is that everything is cross-linked such that you can look things up by spice or by health condition or by flavor profile, and find what you need and what’ll go with it.

    The style is simple and informational, clearly laid-out in encyclopedic form.

    Bottom line: this book should be in your kitchen (or related nearby kitchen-book-place).

    Click here to check out Healing Spices, and advance your culinary repertoire!

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  • Why do I poo in the morning? A gut expert explains

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    No, you’re not imagining it. People really are more likely to poo in the morning, shortly after breakfast. Researchers have actually studied this.

    But why mornings? What if you tend to poo later in the day? And is it worth training yourself to be a morning pooper?

    To understand what makes us poo when we do, we need to consider a range of factors including our body clock, gut muscles and what we have for breakfast.

    Here’s what the science says.

    H_Ko/Shutterstock

    So morning poos are real?

    In a UK study from the early 1990s, researchers asked nearly 2,000 men and women in Bristol about their bowel habits.

    The most common time to poo was in the early morning. The peak time was 7-8am for men and about an hour later for women. The researchers speculated that the earlier time for men was because they woke up earlier for work.

    About a decade later, a Chinese study found a similar pattern. Some 77% of the almost 2,500 participants said they did a poo in the morning.

    But why the morning?

    There are a few reasons. The first involves our circadian rhythm – our 24-hour internal clock that helps regulate bodily processes, such as digestion.

    For healthy people, our internal clock means the muscular contractions in our colon follow a distinct rhythm.

    There’s minimal activity in the night. The deeper and more restful our sleep, the fewer of these muscle contractions we have. It’s one reason why we don’t tend to poo in our sleep.

    Diagram of digestive system including colon and rectum
    Your lower gut is a muscular tube that contracts more strongly at certain times of day. Vectomart/Shutterstock

    But there’s increasing activity during the day. Contractions in our colon are most active in the morning after waking up and after any meal.

    One particular type of colon contraction partly controlled by our internal clock are known as “mass movements”. These are powerful contractions that push poo down to the rectum to prepare for the poo to be expelled from the body, but don’t always result in a bowel movement. In healthy people, these contractions occur a few times a day. They are more frequent in the morning than in the evening, and after meals.

    Breakfast is also a trigger for us to poo. When we eat and drink our stomach stretches, which triggers the “gastrocolic reflex”. This reflex stimulates the colon to forcefully contract and can lead you to push existing poo in the colon out of the body. We know the gastrocolic reflex is strongest in the morning. So that explains why breakfast can be such a powerful trigger for a bowel motion.

    Then there’s our morning coffee. This is a very powerful stimulant of contractions in the sigmoid colon (the last part of the colon before the rectum) and of the rectum itself. This leads to a bowel motion.

    How important are morning poos?

    Large international surveys show the vast majority of people will poo between three times a day and three times a week.

    This still leaves a lot of people who don’t have regular bowel habits, are regular but poo at different frequencies, or who don’t always poo in the morning.

    So if you’re healthy, it’s much more important that your bowel habits are comfortable and regular for you. Bowel motions do not have to occur once a day in the morning.

    Morning poos are also not a good thing for everyone. Some people with irritable bowel syndrome feel the urgent need to poo in the morning – often several times after getting up, during and after breakfast. This can be quite distressing. It appears this early-morning rush to poo is due to overstimulation of colon contractions in the morning.

    Can you train yourself to be regular?

    Yes, for example, to help treat constipation using the gastrocolic reflex. Children and elderly people with constipation can use the toilet immediately after eating breakfast to relieve symptoms. And for adults with constipation, drinking coffee regularly can help stimulate the gut, particularly in the morning.

    A disturbed circadian rhythm can also lead to irregular bowel motions and people more likely to poo in the evenings. So better sleep habits can not only help people get a better night’s sleep, it can help them get into a more regular bowel routine.

    Man preparing Italian style coffee at home, adding coffee to pot
    A regular morning coffee can help relieve constipation. Caterina Trimarchi/Shutterstock

    Regular physical activity and avoiding sitting down a lot are also important in stimulating bowel movements, particularly in people with constipation.

    We know stress can contribute to irregular bowel habits. So minimising stress and focusing on relaxation can help bowel habits become more regular.

    Fibre from fruits and vegetables also helps make bowel motions more regular.

    Finally, ensuring adequate hydration helps minimise the chance of developing constipation, and helps make bowel motions more regular.

    Monitoring your bowel habits

    Most of us consider pooing in the morning to be regular. But there’s a wide variation in normal so don’t be concerned if your poos don’t follow this pattern. It’s more important your poos are comfortable and regular for you.

    If there’s a major change in the regularity of your bowel habits that’s concerning you, see your GP. The reason might be as simple as a change in diet or starting a new medication.

    But sometimes this can signify an important change in the health of your gut. So your GP may need to arrange further investigations, which could include blood tests or imaging.

    Vincent Ho, Associate Professor and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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    If you’d like to give those “little gray cells” an extra workout, this book is a great starting place.

    Dr. Stephen Law is Director of Philosophy at the Department of Continuing Education, University of Oxford. As such, he’s no stranger to providing education that’s both attainable and yet challenging. Here, he lays out important philosophical questions, and challenges the reader to get to grips with them in a systematic fashion.

    Each of the 25 questions/problems has a chapter devoted to it, and is ranked:

    • Warm-up
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    But, he doesn’t leave us to our own devices, nor does he do like a caricature of a philosopher and ask us endless rhetorical questions. Instead, he looks at various approaches taken by other philosophers over time, and invites the reader to try out those methods.

    The real gain of this book is not the mere enjoyment of reading, but rather in taking those thinking skills and applying them in life… because most if not all of them do have real-world applications and/or implications too.

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  • Coffee & Your Gut

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Coffee, in moderation, is generally considered a healthful drink—speaking for the drink itself, at least! Because the same cannot be said for added sugar, various sorts of creamers, or iced caramelatte mocha frappucino dessert-style drinks:

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    Caffeine, too, broadly has more pros than cons (again, in moderation):

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    So, what about coffee and the gut?

    The bacteria who enjoy a good coffee

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    A big (n=35,214) international multicohort analysis examined the associations between coffee consumption and very many different gut microbial species, and found:

    115 species were positively associated with coffee consumption, mostly of the kind considered “friendly”, including ones often included in probiotic supplements, such as various Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus species.

    The kind that was most strongly associated with coffee consumption, however, was Lawsonibacter asaccharolyticus, a helpful little beast who converts chlorogenic acid (one of the main polyphenols in coffee) into caffeic acid, quinic acid, and various other metabolites that we can use.

    More specifically: moderate coffee-drinkers, defined as drinking 1–3 cups per day, enjoyed a 300–400% increase in L. asaccharolyticus, while high coffee-drinkers (no, not that kind of high), defined as drinking 4 or more cups of coffee per day, enjoyed a 400–800% increase, compared to “never/rarely” coffee-drinkers (defined as drinking 2 or fewer cups per month).

    Click here to see more data from the study, in a helpful infographic

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    You can read the paper itself in full for here:

    Coffee consumption is associated with intestinal Lawsonibacter asaccharolyticus abundance and prevalence across multiple cohorts

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  • Raspberries vs Blackberries – Which is Healthier?

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    Our Verdict

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    You might like to read:

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