Stroke is an interruption of blood flow in the brain. Brain cells that are no longer irrigated no longer receive oxygen, nutrients and enter a process of degeneration or may die if the blood circulation is not restored in time.
Both in young and old, stroke can cause the loss of nearly 2 million neurons per minute, causing significant and irreversible damage. Given the seriousness of this disease, it is important to learn how to detect early warning symptoms in order to intervene as soon as possible.
130,000 cases of stroke are recorded every year, ie a stroke every 4 minutes. In order to help you detect the manifestation of a stroke, experts have discovered 4 body parts that need to be monitored.
Watch out for these 4 parts of your body in case of stroke
Face: if you notice the smile on one side or the muscles of the face that suddenly relax, you must immediately alert the health services.
Arms: A person who can not lift both arms at the same height may be experiencing a stroke.
Throat: If a person can not suddenly speak or has difficulty swallowing saliva or food, this may be a sign of a stroke.
Head: a person who has a stroke sometimes loses the notion of time, feels dizzy or suddenly feels heavy migraines.
Other signs can help you recognize a stroke, for example:
- Pain or paralysis affecting only half of the body
- Vision problems (double or blurred vision, visual field reduction, partial or complete loss of vision.)
- Dizziness with loss of balance or loss of coordination of body movements,
- Jerky or difficult breathing
It is strongly recommended to recognize the precursor symptoms of a stroke, because it allows to react quickly and thus to increase the chances of healing, and to limit the consequences that can be very serious and irreversible. Knowledge of the most common risk factors can also help prevent strokes.
The main risk factors for stroke
Poor diet: eating large amounts of sugar, salt and fat affects the nervous system and increases the risk of stroke and other diseases such as hypertension or diabetes. When someone has high blood pressure, the risk of stroke increases dramatically. An increase in blood pressure increases the risk of ischemic stroke by 4 times (formation of a blood clot that reduces blood flow) and 10 times that of haemorrhagic stroke (bleeding that occurs after rupture of a blood vessel in the blood vessel). brain region).
Family history: Health experts say that a person is at greater risk if an immediate family member (grandparents, parent, sibling) has a stroke before the age of 65. In addition, if you have had a stroke or TIA (transient ischemic attack), your risk of experiencing a second stroke increases.
Aging: Half of stroke cases affect seniors over 75 years old. In most of them, there is no warning sign before a crisis, but some factors can be monitored: confused words, difficulties of comprehension, numbness on one side, vision problems , tremors or balance problems.
How to avoid a stroke?
To preserve your health and avoid strokes, here are some tips you can follow:
- Eat healthy and balanced, with adequate daily intake of nutrients and antioxidants (fruits and vegetables, herbs, foods rich in potassium, and other fatty fish such as salmon because they contain omega-3 essential for good brain health)
- Have a restful sleep of 7 hours a night minimum
- Lose weight when overweight or obese to reduce the risk of diabetes and cholesterol.
- Constantly check your blood pressure to avoid voltage spikes. The treatment of high blood pressure reduces the risk of stroke by 40%.
- Exercise regularly to tone your muscles, improve blood circulation and burn fat.
- Banish or at least minimize your consumption of alcohol and cigarettes.
- Maintain a low level of stress by practicing for example meditation