What are your chances of getting sick?

Read through and check all the points that are true for you. If you answer "yes" to more than 5 statements, you are at risk of stroke.

• You are over 45 years of age
• You are a man
• You are a smoker
• You are overweight
• You drink alcohol more than once a week
• You have a family history of strokes, thromboses, and/or myocardial infarction
• Your "upper" blood pressure is often over 150
• You feel nauseous when you have high blood pressure
• You feel pain in your heart region when you exercise
• You periodically feel unexplained numbness in your extremities
• You have lost or nearly lost consciousness at least once in the past year
• You systematically suffer from insomnia
• You have been experiencing dynamic coordination problems for the past 3–5 years
• Your memory has decreased
• You have regular headaches in one side of the head

Can the risks be reduced?

Yes, you can reduce your risk of stroke. And it doesn’t even require any fancy procedure.

Measure your blood pressure. The WHO recommends taking note of readings above 120/80, but medical practitioners believe that this framework is too strict, and the indicators should be treated more individually. The global standard for the "safety zone" is 140/90 — even though it is considered high, the risk of stroke for people with such numbers is not considered high. Measure your blood pressure every morning for 2 weeks, and if it consistently exceeds 140/90, it makes sense to see a cardiologist.

Monitor your sugar levels. Diabetes increases your risk of stroke by 2.5 times. If you are overweight or have a family history of diabetes, watch your sugar level and diet. Ideally, reduce your weight to normal values.

Stop smoking. Nicotine thins vascular walls and promotes blood clotting, high blood pressure, and vascular spasms.

Exercise more. However, this does not mean lifting weights! The best stroke prevention is "slow" exercise such as swimming, walking, and gentle cycling. The main priority here is not to train muscles, but to train blood vessels, so the task is to increase not the intensity, but the duration of physical activity. Stretching, yoga or pilates are also helpful.

Reduce your stress levels. However, do not use alcohol to do so. It is important to normalize your sleep and, if necessary, take anti-anxiety and sedative medications prescribed by your doctor. Walking in nature, spending time with pets or any activity that calms you down and makes you happy is the best medicine.

Get an annual checkup with your doctor. It is impossible to completely reduce the risk of stroke to zero, even if you are not at risk. To take measures in time and prevent the development of the disease, after 45 years of age you should regularly undergo tests that your doctor orders. You can find a complete list of the tests you need in your profile in the appendix.

Doctors have only 3 to 6 hours after the onset of a stroke to save the person and give him or her a chance to return to a full life.

What stroke warning should I look out for?

• Sharp headache
• Loss of coordination, unsteady gait
• The feeling of numbness of half of the body
• Difficulty saying the simplest words
• Vision in one eye fails or disappears
• Cannot raise both arms to the same height at the same time
• Smiling is asymmetrical
• Cannot stick out tongue

In all of these cases, call an ambulance IMMEDIATELY and tell them that you or someone nearby is showing signs of a stroke. If care is given promptly, 56 % of patients return to their normal lifestyle after rehabilitation.

15 October 2021