Top 10 Most Effective Ways to Prevent Stroke

1. Regular Walking for 20 - 30 Minutes Every Day

No matter how busy you are, try to allocate 20 - 30 minutes every day to walking. Even if you're too busy, split your workout time into two sessions, each lasting about 10 minutes, which is also highly effective. Maintaining a good walking routine will improve your mood. A study suggests that regular walking can improve mood. Additionally, this exercise can also help alleviate depression. Walking in a park surrounded by greenery and fresh air has been proven to be effective in providing relaxation and may help you sleep better.

Moreover, walking has been shown to reduce the risk of cognitive decline. Regular walking activities can facilitate blood flow to the brain and reduce the risk of vascular diseases. Younger individuals may choose to walk at a brisk pace, while middle-aged individuals should walk at a slower pace and focus on breathing evenly. Pay attention to exercising within your capabilities and avoid pushing your body too hard. According to a study conducted on 40,000 volunteer women, the risk of stroke will decrease by 40% if you persistently engage in regular walking.

2. Preventing Headaches

Migraine is one of the common ailments in women due to changes in medication and hormones.

The latent risk of complications from stroke in women is high.

Sleep occupies 1/3 of each person's lifetime, but you shouldn't sleep more than 10 hours a day. According to a study by Harvard University in the USA, people who sleep more than 10 hours per night increase their risk of stroke by 63% compared to those who sleep 7-8 hours. Or according to a study in Japan, women who sleep less than 6 hours per night have a 62% higher risk of breast cancer. Furthermore, a 2011 study by Case Western University (USA) found that people who sleep less than 6 hours are more likely to develop colon polyps, 47% higher than normal, which can develop into cancer. So, pay attention to getting 7-8 hours of sleep each day.

When going to bed, eliminate worries, and if you can't sleep after 15 minutes in bed, you can leave the bed and do something relaxing like listening to music, doing some light exercises, then return to bed when you feel tired. You should avoid stimulants: coffee, chocolate, and nicotine that make it difficult for you to sleep. Alcohol may help you fall asleep at first, but then it will disrupt your sleep. Therefore, avoid these types at least a few hours before bedtime. When your body gets enough sleep, you will be refreshed at work. So, we should get about 8 hours of sleep per night, avoiding too little or too much sleep. Adequate sleep is a valuable remedy in preventing cardiovascular diseases!

Stress, prolonged tension is also one of the factors leading to stroke. Stress will lead to bad habits such as smoking, drinking alcohol, prolonged insomnia. This can easily cause high blood pressure, insomnia, and poor blood circulation. According to Dr. Alan Rozanki, a cardiologist at the Berghofer Medical Research Institute (Australia), optimistic people often have good health. Optimism helps them maintain a positive lifestyle, limiting factors leading to stroke. So, keep a relaxed and happy attitude to improve your physical and mental health.

It is said: 'a smile is worth ten doses of tonic'. Therefore, keeping a relaxed and optimistic attitude in life contributes significantly to prolonging lifespan, especially reducing the risk of stroke. Because modern life always has many pressures, more people suffer from depression - a factor that increases the risk of stroke by 29%. You should go to medical facilities for diagnosis when you have symptoms such as prolonged sadness, boredom, loss of appetite, insomnia, loss of interest in everything around you... In addition, you should try meditating daily in your free time to learn how to regulate your breath and relax your mind. Meditation is a great therapy for those facing the symptoms of depression mentioned above and it also contributes significantly to stroke prevention.

To maintain a healthy cardiovascular and nervous system, a balanced diet with a reduction in fat and an increase in fiber from vegetables and fruits is essential and should be practiced daily. Diseases commonly leading to stroke include heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes... and the main causes are excessive intake of bad cholesterol from fatty foods and foods high in sugar and salt. The most important principle to reduce stroke is to reduce the level of bad fat in the blood. Therefore, limiting fried and grilled foods should be the first step in stroke prevention. Additionally, it's advisable to stay away from two 'poisons' that harm your health every day through overuse: cigarettes and alcohol.

According to a study, protein-rich foods contribute to reducing about 20% of strokes and heart attacks. Hence, you should pay attention to adding protein-rich foods to your daily diet. The best fruits for stroke prevention that you should know include bananas, sweet potatoes, raisins, or olive oil... Using olive oil when cooking dishes like frying, grilling, baking... will help reduce the risk of heart muscle blockages. A recent study found that using olive oil also helps reduce the risk of stroke. Or a study involving over 7,600 French people aged over 65 found that those who regularly use olive oil help reduce the risk of stroke by more than 40%. These fruits reduce the risk of stroke for you. To have good health and a good mood in life, you should supplement your diet with a variety of fruits. It not only reduces the risk of stroke but also enhances your skin!

Many people have neglected annual health checkups due to the belief that 'God calls when it's time'. Therefore, we have missed opportunities to understand our health status and lost the chance for the best treatment if diseases are detected early. So, maintain the habit of checking health indicators such as blood fat levels, blood pressure, blood sugar... along with performing ultrasound, electrocardiograms, and brain scans every 6 months. This will help us detect signs of stroke and take timely measures. Don't bear the consequences of worse health and life just because of fear of discovering more diseases.

Vietnam is one of the countries with the highest stroke mortality rates in the world. On average, there are over 200,000 cases of stroke from mild to moderate and severe every year. Among them, only about 14% of cases are taken to hospitals for intervention in the 'golden time'. It can be seen that the stroke incidence rate is increasing and many cases are brought to the hospital late, leading to disability and death. Screening for stroke will help tightly control the causes, risk factors that can lead to stroke, detect signs of abnormal health, and chronic diseases that increase the risk of stroke. In this way, the risk can be minimized as much as possible.

Stroke, also known as cerebrovascular accident, is a condition where blood flow to the brain is disrupted. Stroke occurs after blockage or rupture of blood vessels, leading to the death of nerve cells. This deprives cells of oxygen and essential nutrients needed to function. There are some signs that commonly occur before a stroke, which everyone should remember. When you notice any of these dangerous symptoms, seek immediate medical attention at the nearest hospital for diagnosis and the most effective treatment.

Some signs of stroke include: Loss of facial symmetry, facial weakness, drooping on one side of the face, slurred speech. At this point, you can advise the patient to smile and observe. Sudden difficulty or inability to move arms and legs, paralysis on one side of the body. Caregivers should ask the patient to raise both arms and compare. If both arms cannot be raised above the head simultaneously, there is a possibility that the person is having a stroke. Sudden severe headache or dizziness, the patient is not paralyzed but cannot sit or stand like a normal person. Sudden loss of vision: Blurred vision, unable to see clearly.

In patients with atrial fibrillation, the upper two chambers of the heart (called the atria) beat rapidly and chaotically, not uniformly. This leads to blood pooling in the atria, creating conditions for the formation of blood clots in the heart. These clots can then be pumped out by the heart, travel through the blood vessels to the brain or other organs, causing stroke or acute arterial occlusion in other parts of the body. Patients with atrial fibrillation are at 5-7 times higher risk of stroke than other patients. In atrial fibrillation, the heart rhythm is irregular, often continuously fast, causing the heart to contract poorly, weaken, and reduce the effectiveness of pumping blood to nourish the body. Moreover, if this condition persists over time, it will increase the risk of heart failure, as well as exacerbate other cardiovascular diseases, the most dangerous of which may lead to death.

In simple terms, atrial fibrillation is a condition of heart rhythm disorder, the atria beat asynchronously with the rest of the heart. Atrial fibrillation usually occurs in people over 65 years old. Symptoms of the disease include rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, fatigue. Some people have no obvious symptoms. Atrial fibrillation increases the risk of blood clot formation in the heart. When these blood clots go up to the brain, they can cause a stroke. Therefore, people with atrial fibrillation are at 5 times higher risk of stroke than those without the disease.

9. Blood Pressure and Blood Sugar Control

High blood pressure is a factor that doubles or even quadruples the risk of stroke. Uncontrolled blood pressure can harm your health. Therefore, controlling blood pressure is extremely important in preventing stroke. In your diet, limit salt and high-salt foods. Minimize the amount of salt in your food, limit the use of processed foods as they often contain high levels of salt. Salt intake should be < 2,300mg/day for normal individuals and < 1,500mg/day for patients with high blood pressure, diabetes, kidney failure, and those aged ≥ 51 years.

On the other hand, to control blood pressure, you should consume plenty of fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products, reduce saturated fat intake to lower blood pressure. Supplementing with foods containing omega-3 fatty acids (a beneficial fatty acid for health that helps prevent stroke) is recommended. Consuming omega-3 fatty acids from salmon, tuna, mackerel, sardines, trout, nuts, and seeds such as walnuts a few times a week will have a very good effect on protecting blood vessels. Additionally, those with a history of high blood pressure should pay attention to taking blood pressure-lowering medications as prescribed by the doctor to control blood pressure and prevent stroke. Moreover, you should maintain blood sugar levels within a controlled range. High blood sugar will damage blood vessels and easily form blood clots in the vessels, leading to stroke. Monitor blood sugar levels regularly. Adhere to a diet, exercise, and medication regimen to keep blood sugar levels within permissible limits as a way to prevent stroke.

10. Avoid Smoking and Stimulants

Smoking has long been associated with negative health effects because cigarettes and cigarette smoke contain harmful substances, especially carcinogens. Nicotine, found in cigarettes, is highly addictive, leading smokers to become physically and psychologically dependent. Another toxic substance in cigarettes is tar, which damages the body more easily. The harmful effects of smoking include cardiovascular diseases, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cancers such as lung cancer, throat cancer, and esophageal cancer.

The impact of smoking on heart disease and other conditions mentioned above depends on the number of cigarettes smoked per day and the number of years of smoking. If you smoke, quit because smoking reduces oxygen in the blood, leading to the formation of blood clots. Additionally, cigarette smoke stimulates arteries, creating conditions for plaque buildup in the arteries. Therefore, smokers are at twice the risk of ischemic stroke and four times the risk of hemorrhagic stroke compared to non-smokers.