One of the leading causes of disability in adults is a medical condition known as a stroke. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 15 million people suffer from stroke worldwide every year. Of these, 5 million people perish, and another 5 million are permanently disabled.
A stroke happens when there is reduced blood flow to the brain of a person that often becomes fatal. A stroke can happen in two main ways:
Ischemic Stroke: Ischemic Stroke occurs when a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain is obstructed. It accounts for 87 per cent of all strokes.
Hemorrhagic Stroke: Hemorrhagic Stroke occurs when an already weakened blood vessel ruptures. The two types of weak blood vessels that generally cause hemorrhagic stroke are aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations. High blood pressure is often the cause of Hemorrhagic Stroke.
A piece of good news among these facts is that it is never too late for a person to avert a potentially ravaging brain attack. There are indeed several habits that one can adopt to stay stroke-free and also look forward to living a healthy life.
In this article, we will have a closer look at those habits that significantly cuts down the risk of stroke in a person. It might not look easy at the start, but everybody can do it without much hassle.
So, let’s get started,
Have Your Breakfast
The most important meal of the day, breakfast is a fuel that keeps us energetic for our daily tasks. Our brain functions well during the first hours of the day if it has got adequate nutrients from breakfast. As there is a huge gap between the dinner and next day’s meal, one cannot afford to miss breakfast. One of the ways to ensure you eat breakfast is by cooking your food for the morning way ahead of time. Items like oatmeals, cereals and pancakes can be refrigerated, which means all you have to do is heat them in the morning.
Stop Eating Salty Foods
Having a diet with high-salt content is one of the main reasons for high blood pressure in people. Also, living with hypertension makes a person more likely to suffer a brain bleed from a ruptured blood vessel. One does not have to eliminate salt from their diet completely, a reduction can do the job. A great tip to cut down salt intake is by adding spices like coriander, black pepper, cumin, ginger or onion powder.
Reduce Sugar Consumption
Like sodium, a diet with high added sugar content can make one more likely to suffer from heart diseases. Having a faulty heart is dangerous and makes a person exposed to a fatal stroke. Try cutting down your sugar intake by half and wean down from there. You will be able to progressively reduce the sugar content in the diet if you can resist eating more day by day. Also, compare food labels and choose products with the lowest amount of sugars.
Get Good Sleep
A minimum of 7 hours of sleep is mandatory for a person to let his body recover fully and then wake up fresh. Having a good sleep also ensures that you have a healthy metabolic process and good brain functioning. A Warwick medical school study has discovered that prolonged sleep deprivation can damage heart health, putting a person to a greater risk of stroke. So try to get your daily dose of sleep from now onwards.
Cut Back on Smoking
Cigarette smoking is one of those dangerous habits that constantly decreases the supply of oxygen to the brain. Tobacco smoke consists of over 7000 chemicals including carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and cyanide that gets quickly transferred from the lungs to the bloodstream. This damages cells present in the body, increasing the risk of stroke. Also, smokers with high blood pressure get their arteries narrowed gradually. It is therefore significant that you eliminate the habit of smoking at the earliest.
Don’t Skip Your Workout
Regular physical exercise invigorates all the vital organs by supplying it with more oxygen and freshness. It turns out, working out also significantly reduces the risk of having a transient ischemic stroke. This is because physical exercise contributes to a lowered blood pressure which in turn results in loss of weight. These two factors are critical in averting a brain attack.
There is no need to panic if by any chance if you are experiencing the mild symptoms of a stroke. As mentioned above, it is never too late to start living a stroke-free life. These tips will surely help a person to reduce the risk of a brain attack. Never stop being grateful to the health nature has given to you.
