Read that again. Anyone can have a stroke. Your chances of having a stroke are higher if you fall into a higher risk factor category. And yes, there are things that you can do to lower your risk of having a stroke.
Those who are at highest risk for strokes are African American males between the ages of 55 and 75 who have a history of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, hypertension, high cholesterol, smoking and eat a diet high in fried, fatty foods, and sugar. Lack of physical activity is a fctor, and so are Stress, depression, alcohol and illicit drug-use. The higher number of those traits that you have, the higher your risk of stroke becomes.
I am female. I am much younger than the average stroke sufferer, I have never had high blood pressure, hypertension or high cholesterol (still don’t) and I’m allergic to cigarette smoke. I’ve never done drugs and the most I’ll drink is a glass of red wine at dinner occassionally. I’m a pescatarian, I rarely eat fried foods, and I eat clean as often as possible. I workout, although I’m at the high end of the healthy range for my age and height. I stay away from products that are high in parabens and other carcinogenic additives. Aside from fibroids, anemia and an occassional hyperactive thyroid, I’m relatively healthy.
My doctors were confused.
I was completely freaked out.
I had apparently had at least 4 strokes within the past year, and doctors couldn’t figure out why. They said I had the heart of a 20 year old, my blood pressure was normal and that I had no blockages anywhere in my body. The only evidence that I’d even had a stroke was in my brain. Finally, a hematologist decided to run a special set of tests on my blood and it was determined that I have something called hypercoagulative blood disorder. Or “sticky blood”. In other words, my blood has a tendency to clot randomly and those clots can travel through my body and hang out wherever they want. Apparently, their last two parties were held in my cerebellum and my right frontal cortex.
And it’s hereditary.
At that point I was thinking if (in my case) stroke is hereditary and I was destined to have one, then maybe my relatively healthy lifestyle didn’t matter. I would just shut down the blog and wheel on over to Krispy Kreme and have at it right? Wrong. He told me my healthy diet and moderately active lifestyle probably saved my life.
Deep huh?
I was unknowingly in a high-risk category for stroke. If I had been 50 pounds overweight, smoking, drinking, and eating things like high fructose corn syrup or cake for breakfast, when the stroke hit it could have killed me.
So the bottom line is, even if you are not a 70 year old Black man with high blood pressure and high cholesterol, you still might be at risk. And you might not know until you actually have a stroke. Below are some ways in which you can reduce that risk.
