Min menu

Pages

Stroke: Know These 4 Life-Saving Tips: Every Second Counts

Stroke: Know These 4 Life-Saving Tips: Every Second Counts

Stroke Lifesaving Tips


Cerebrovascular accident is one of the most serious modern diseases. It affects almost 10 million people every year, including 150,000 in France. Due to insufficient blood flow in the brain, stroke can cause the loss of nearly 2 million neurons per minute, causing significant and irreversible damage to the person suffering and even death. What are its causes and how to respond to it?

What are the types of stroke?

There are two types of cerebrovascular accidents:

A haemorrhagic stroke that accounts for only 20% of the cases, and is due to bleeding that occurs after the rupture of a blood vessel in the area of the brain,
An ischemic stroke, which is much more common, with an incidence of 80%. Its main cause is the formation of a blood clot that reduces the blood flow to the brain, or completely blocks it in some cases.

What are its main risk factors?

Like almost all modern chronic diseases, our way of life is a determining factor in our risk of suffering from it. Indeed, an unhealthy diet that includes large amounts of sugar, salt and fat increases the risk of several diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and cholesterol that all affect the health of the nervous and cardiovascular system . 

If we take the example of hypertension, a collaborative study of 45 prospective studies and published results in 1995 showed that the risk of stroke is 80% with each increase of 10 mmHg of pressure Diastolic arterial pressure (pressure exerted by the heart when relaxed). The same study also stated that an increase in blood pressure increases the risk of ischemic stroke by 4 and haemorrhagic stroke by 10.

Moreover, living in stress, we are constantly exposed to high levels of cortisol, a hormone that activates the overproduction of fat and promotes their storage. In addition to increasing the risk of overweight, this overproduction of fat promotes fat deposits on the walls of the arteries and blood vessels, causing their shrinkage and loss of elasticity.

Other risk factors for this disease include:
  • Family history
  • Aging
  • Some blood diseases
  • Trauma to the skull or neck
  • Excessive alcohol consumption
  • Smoking.

How to recognize a stroke?

Recognizing the precursor symptoms of a stroke is strongly recommended, as it helps to react quickly and thus increase the chances of curing it, and to limit its sequelae which are likely to be very serious and irreversible.

So as soon as you feel any of the following signs, seek immediate help or call an ambulance directly:
  • Sudden numbness on one side of the body: face, arm and leg
  • Pain or paralysis affecting only one half of the body
  • A sudden sense of confusion, with language disorders and a difficulty in speaking or producing a coherent discourse
  • Vision problems: double or blurred vision, visual field narrowing, partial or complete loss of vision
  • Dizziness with loss of balance or loss of coordination of body movements,
  • Breathing jerky or difficult
  • Sudden and intense headache.


How to reduce the risk of stroke?

To maintain your health and avoid stroke, care must be taken to:
  • Keeping a low stress level, practicing yoga or meditation
  • Have a restful sleep of 7 hours per night minimum
  • Eating healthy and balanced, with adequate daily intake of nutrients and antioxidants
  • Lose the extra pounds in case of overweight or obesity, to reduce the risk of diabetes and cholesterol. Indeed, a reduction in the risk of stroke reduces the risk of stroke by 25%, and by 50% in the case of diabetes.
  • In case of high blood pressure, keep your pressure under control to avoid tension spikes. Treated high blood pressure reduces the risk of stroke by 40%.
  • Do regular sports to tone the muscles, improve blood circulation and burn fat
  • Stop smoking and after only 6 months, your chances of suffering a stroke will be halved
  • Do not drink alcohol.