We all know there are plenty of risk factors for heart attack and stroke. Recently, a large international study helped clarify what some of these risk factors truly are, and how they impact your risk. There were five primary factors that seemed to have the biggest impact.
High Blood Pressure
This is the biggest and most obvious one. Blood pressure is a serious health concern for many reasons. Blood pressure is also a primary factor in the likelihood of several types of stroke. High blood pressure accounts for roughly one-third of all strokes and is the most prevalent and serious risk factor.
Smoking, Abdominal Obesity, Diet, and Exercise
The other four of the top five risk factors of stroke are smoking, abdominal obesity, diet, and exercise. These all play into your overall health in unique ways, but they do have a unifying factor: they all play a significant part in your overall risk of stroke. The important thing to note here is that there’s a degree of personal responsibility tied to all of these factors. Smoking is a choice-turned-addiction, and quitting is a great step towards better health. Weight management, diet, and exercise are all within your hands. Proper care and communication with your health care practitioners can lead you to good results on all these fronts.
These first five factors, blood pressure, smoking, abdominal obesity, diet, and exercise, account for 80% of the risk factors for stroke, according to this study. Experts were able to make the study show even more specific results than this.
90% of Risk
In addition to the above risks, these complications make up 90% of the risk related to stroke: blood lipids, diabetes, alcohol, stress, and depression. These factors alone can create serious complications, but in combination with some or all of the other factors can be deadly. Some decisions can be made to limit the severity of these factors, such as quitting smoking and reducing alcohol intake. Stress management and proper nutrition can also make a difference.
Overall, the valuable lesson here is that living healthfully for your entire life is the best option. It’s never too late to take proper care of yourself, but many of these factors were in the works long before stroke becomes a likely threat. The earlier you can adopt healthy habits, the better.
To see an article about the study, click here.