How to lower your risk of having a stroke

There are more than 100,000 strokes in the UK each year. That is around one every five minutes! However, you can reduce your chances of having a stroke by making some positive lifestyle changes. Here we look at a few ways how.

Improve Your Diet

An unhealthy diet can increase your chances of having a stroke. Eating foods high in saturated fats and salt may lead to an increase in your blood pressure and cholesterol levels which are leading causes of stroke.

Being overweight makes you over 20% more likely to have a stroke. Being obese puts your risk of a stroke up by 64%. Make sure your diet is rich in fruit, vegetables, whole grains and protein. Check out our blog post on foods you should be eating for a healthy heart.

Stop Smoking

Smoking narrows the arteries which cause blood clots stopping the flow to the brain. This can lead to a stroke. Quitting smoking is one the best things you can do to reduce your chance of having one, the minute you quit, your risk of stroke drops immediately.

By not smoking you will also improve your general health and help reduce your risk of developing other serious illnesses such as cancer and lung disease.

Cut Down on Alcohol

Heavy drinking multiplies the risk of stroke by more than 3 times! Not only does excessive alcohol consumption lead to high blood pressure, but it also causes weight gain leading to diabetes and damages the liver.

Drinking lots of alcohol in a short space of time is dangerous as causes your blood pressure to rise very quickly. Find out some more alcohol facts in our blog.

Be More Active

Incorporating exercise into your daily routine is a great way of keeping your heart and arteries healthy, reducing the risk of heart disease which can lead to a stroke. If you are incorporating healthy eating into your lifestyle too, exercise will keep you at a healthy weight.

Being active lowers your blood sugar, reduces cholesterol in the blood and stabilises blood sugar. Try to do at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise, or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise, every week.