Change for the BETTER
THE NINE EASY WAYS TO REDUCE YOUR RISK OF HAVING A STROKE
If you’ve had a TIA or if you have any of the risk factors listed on the previous page, it’s time to do what you can to reduce the chances of having a stroke. Even if you don’t think you’re at risk, the following guidelines can help you to be generally more healthy. Stroke is preventable! 1 Check your blood pressure
regularly. High blood pressure is a leading cause of strokes – if yours is high, you could be as much as seven times more likely to have a stroke than someone with normal blood pressure. You should be aiming for a reading of around 120/80. If it is consistently over 140/90, it’s considered to be high. 2 Stay a healthy weight.
Excess body fat can result in high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes, all risk factors for stroke. Try to eat more healthily and exercise
regularly, to keep your weight in a healthy range. 3 Stop smoking. The chemicals in tobacco can play havoc with your blood, making it more likely to clot, as well as tightening blood vessels so it is harder for blood to flow through them. Smoking can quadruple your risk of having a stroke, but as soon as you stop, your risk drops. 4
Cut back on salt. Having excess sodium in your body raises the levels of water in your blood, putting pressure on your arteries and increasing your blood pressure, which in turn makes you more likely to have a stroke. We tend to eat far more than the recommended one teaspoon a day, usually because processed foods contain high levels of salt. 5 A healthy diet helps to keep blood pressure down and arteries healthy. Ditch sugary, salty, processed foods and focus instead on fruit and vegetables, legumes, whole grains, fish, lean meat and low fat proteins. 6 Be physically active.
Regular exercise – around 30 minutes of moderate activity a day – can lower high blood pressure and halve your chances of having a stroke. 7 Try to get your cholesterol levels down. High cholesterol can play a part in a process called atherosclerosis, in which the arteries narrow, making it harder for blood to get through. Swap foods that are high in saturated fat for those that contain healthy fats, such as omega-3 fatty acids (found in salmon and other oily fish) and try to eat more fibre. 8 Cut down on alcohol.
It doesn’t take much to increase your risk – more than two small drinks a day can make you as much as three times as likely to have a stroke. And binge drinking bumps up your
risk by more than five times. 9 If you have diabetes, make sure you are
managing it. People with this disease may have high blood sugar levels, which affects blood vessels and can make your arteries more likely to harden, leading to stroke. Talk to your GP or diabetes specialist about getting blood sugar under control. For more information, visit the Stroke Foundation’s website – stroke.org.nz.