Maintaining one’s health is crucial. With proper lifestyle choices and care, you can keep many complications at bay. However, there are times when health complications come without a warning, affecting many lives. One such health complication is stroke.
It is a condition in which people experience a blockage in blood vessels. When that occurs, the blood vessels cannot deliver sufficient oxygen to the brain. As the brain doesn’t receive any oxygen, its functioning is affected.
The dangers that it poses often make people wonder how to stop a stroke. Well, to prevent that, you need to address the risk factors that trigger such complications.
Ageing usually increases the chances of getting a stroke, but nowadays, many factors impact the occurrence of the disease. These include eating junk food, smoking, and alcoholism. If you want to avoid a stroke, you need to take control of these factors.
Also, when you fear there are risks of a stroke, it is essential to get a thorough diagnosis. Based on the diagnosis, the medical practitioner will offer ways to lower the risk of strokes.
From this blog, you will get to know how to prevent getting a stroke. Also, it will inform you about the causes, symptoms, and diagnosis of strokes.
What is a Stroke and its Types?
Those who have experienced a stroke or know someone who has one would know the difficulty. It is a health condition that can have detrimental effects on people.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the USA witnessed 1 in 6 deaths from cardiovascular disease due to stroke. Hence, to develop strategies for stroke prevention, it is important to understand the condition.
What is a Stroke?
A stroke is a medical situation in which you experience a blockage of blood flow in the brain. If there’s a brain bleed or a blockage in the blood vessels, strokes occur in people.
Healthcare practitioners often refer to strokes as cerebrovascular accidents (CVAs) or brain attacks. When someone experiences an attack or an accident, it may lead to changes in their speech, vision, or balance.
Also, the condition can be fatal, especially among older people. But it doesn’t mean that young people may not experience it. In fact, these days, the risk of a stroke is increasing among young adults.
To prevent a stroke, check for warning signs and get immediate medical help.
What are the Different Types of Strokes?
Strokes can indeed be fatal, but the effect is not always severe. However, being a serious disease, you may want to know how to stop a stroke.
Before getting to the strategies for stroke prevention, let’s understand its types. Typically, there are three types of strokes. These include:
- Ischemic stroke: It is the most common type of stroke that occurs in a person. When you experience an ischemic stroke, a blockage in the blood vessels prevents blood and oxygen from reaching the brain.
- Transient ischemic attack (TIA): In such a condition, the blood flow is inadequate to a part of the brain for a brief amount of time. But after a while, normal blood flow resumes, and you can avoid the stroke easily. Many people refer to it as a mini stroke.
- Hemorrhagic stroke: When the blood vessels rupture, people can experience a hemorrhagic stroke. These are very severe and require immediate attention to manage the condition.
What Causes a Stroke?
A stroke is a sudden medical condition that stops blood vessels from supplying blood and oxygen to the brain. When that happens, people may experience blackouts, lose balance, or suddenly lose hand movement.
The more time it takes for the blood to reach the brain, the more severe the consequences will be. Knowing how to prevent a stroke may reduce its severity. But before that, it is essential to find out what causes it.
Different factors cause a stroke in a person. These include:
- Diabetes
- High blood pressure or hypertension
- Overweight or obesity
- Heart disease
- Smoking
- Not enough physical activity
- Regular alcohol consumption
Warning Signs to Prevent Getting a Stroke
After learning the causes of stroke, you need to understand its symptoms. When someone experiences an attack in the heart or brain due to a blood vessel blockage, their body stops functioning normally.
If the condition leads to passing out, it can cause permanent damage to the brain or heart. Hence, to stop a stroke in progress, it is vital to know the warning signs. These include:
- Blurry vision
- Agitation or confusion
- Seizures
- Slurred speech
- Partial paralysis of the body or face
- Neck stiffness
- Coma
If you experience any of these symptoms, or if anyone you know does, ensure you get help from a healthcare provider. To prevent strokes, they would run a diagnosis and come up with effective treatment plans.
Diagnosis of Strokes
Strokes are a major concern because they occur rapidly. The medical condition is so sudden that people don’t even get a chance to stop it. It is for such a reason that you need a thorough diagnosis to prevent a stroke when you feel it coming.
As diabetes and high blood pressure are core causes of strokes, you can seek specialized diabetes care or hypertension treatment to reduce the risk of strokes. Using comprehensive diagnostic strategies, you cannot only avoid a stroke but also its underlying causes.
Besides all these, some common medical tests to detect the warning signs for stroke include:
- Computed Tomography (CT) scans: It is a diagnostic method used to detect bleeding or blockage in the brain, stroke, tumors, or other conditions.
- Blood tests: The doctor will use them to determine a high risk of blood clots or bleeding. It also measures specific substances in the blood, particularly the clotting factors. Based on the data, the doctor then creates a treatment plan to avoid strokes.
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan: It uses radio waves and magnetic fields to create an image of the brain. Using that image, the doctor can detect damage to the brain tissue.
- Digital subtraction angiography (DSA): The test allows doctors to inject a dye into the brain’s blood vessels to make them visible on X-ray or MRI.
- Electrocardiogram (EKG): It creates precise imaging of the heart. With imaging, doctors look for sources of clots that can travel through the brain.
Can You Stop a Stroke?
The complexity of strokes makes people wonder whether they can stop them. Well, people experiencing mini strokes get the chance to stop their effects.
Moreover, you don’t have to do anything to stop the stroke. The sudden interruption in blood flow through the vessels is restored after a brief period. And then, the brain starts functioning normally on its own.
But in cases of ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes, the effects don’t stop on their own. Instead, it requires medical intervention and effective treatments to prevent a stroke. Furthermore, with some lifestyle changes, you can avoid getting a stroke.
How to Prevent the Chances of a Stroke?
Strokes can impact a person’s life in ways they cannot even imagine. Even a mild stroke can account for sensory loss or cause speech problems. But the good news is you still can prevent getting a stroke when you start working on its risk factors.
For instance, it is essential to know if your heart is healthy to ensure proper blood flow through the blood vessels within the brain. A balanced diet and cholesterol level management can contribute to better heart health.
Once heart health improves, the risk of stroke decreases. However, the sudden onset of the condition may not give you time to stop it. Once you experience any of the symptoms, you can seek immediate medical attention.
Let’s explore lifestyle changes and treatments to help prevent stroke.
Lifestyle Changes
The effects of stroke can be severe, but bringing some positive changes to your lifestyle can reduce the risk of happening again. From quitting smoking to increasing physical activities, all these lifestyle changes guide you on how to prevent getting a stroke.
- Say no to smoking: Tobacco consumption damages blood arteries and stimulates blood clot formation in the blood vessels, increasing the risk of strokes. To avoid it, you need to try quitting the filthy habit. You can turn towards your family or friends for support. Alternatively, you can use nicotine patches to see optimal results.
- Have a balanced diet: One of the most significant ways to prevent a stroke is to adopt a well-balanced diet. It is crucial to include lean meats, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in your diet. All these items will enhance blood circulation throughout the body, thereby contributing to better brain function.
- Limit alcohol consumption: Excessive alcohol intake can elevate blood pressure and cause abnormal heartbeats. Such factors are core causes of strokes. Thus, to prevent it from occurring, it is important to limit alcohol intake.
- Manage blood pressure: High blood pressure or hypertension can cause strokes. To avoid a stroke, you should seek hypertension treatment. Such a treatment plan will include the foods to incorporate and those to avoid. For instance, you can include whole grains and reduce salt intake to control blood pressure, allowing better blood flow throughout the brain.
- Maintain a healthy weight: Obesity is an increasing risk factor for strokes. To ensure you live a long and healthy life, follow these weight management tips. These tips include regular exercise, a proper sleep routine, and a balanced diet.
Stroke Rehabilitation Therapy
If you or someone you know has experienced a stroke, you would know that the condition brings a change to the body and brain. From losing their balance to distorted speech, there are significant challenges that a person may experience after a stroke.
Seeking treatment in a rehab will help you regain the abilities you had before or adjust to the new disabilities. These therapies can work in combination:
- Physical therapy: It helps improve balance and strengthen muscles. As a result, you will be able to move your arms and legs like before.
- Speech therapy: With speech therapy, you can regain your speaking and language abilities. Furthermore, the therapy allows you to control the way you breathe, swallow, eat, and talk.
- Occupational therapy: Such a therapy helps you perform your daily chores safely. It specifically allows you to perform the tasks that require precise body movements.
Manage Stroke Symptoms with One Health Medical Group
Now that you know how to prevent getting a stroke, use those strategies to improve your quality of life.
The sudden occurrence of a stroke may not give you enough time to control the symptoms. Hence, to reduce the risk of such events, consider early detection and start making lifestyle changes.
At One Health Medical Group, we develop effective treatment plans that not only aim to prevent strokes but also address their underlying causes. Our wellness care includes hypertension treatment services, from early detection to management.
We have a diagnostic center where we run various tests to identify health conditions. The use of advanced technology and tools provides accurate results, which helps us formulate the next step of the treatment plan.
Explore our medical services to manage your stroke symptoms at the earliest!
FAQs
What are the causes of a stroke?
Strokes occur when a blood vessel in the brain becomes blocked. Also, if there is internal bleeding or rupture in the blood vessels, it can cause a stroke.
How can I prevent a stroke or heart attack?
To prevent a stroke or a heart attack, you can make some healthy life choices like quitting smoking and exercising regularly. You can also incorporate a healthy diet to reduce hypertension, which increases the chances of a stroke.
What are the symptoms of a stroke?
Sudden paralysis of the face, arms, and legs is one of the core symptoms of strokes. Other signs include slurred speech, confusion, headache, loss of balance, and vision problems.
How to prevent a stroke when you feel it coming?
If you know the signs of stroke and when someone experiences it, you should seek a medical practitioner immediately. Often, blood flow to the brain stops for a brief period. But when it does, you don’t need any immediate assistance. It is a mini stroke that heals without any treatment. However, in other cases, it is advisable to visit a doctor.
How to reduce the chances of a stroke?
To reduce your risk of stroke, eat a healthy diet and follow a regular exercise routine. Incorporating foods high in fiber and low in saturated fats and trans fats will reduce cholesterol levels that can cause a stroke. Also, regular physical exercise, such as walking and running, can help you manage weight, thereby improving blood flow throughout the brain.
Do strategies for the prevention of stroke disease differ by age and gender?
Yes, strategies for stroke prevention differ by age and gender. In many cases, men seem to have more cases of stroke disease than women. Also, the chances of strokes are higher in old age than in young age. Thus, to reap the benefits of effective treatment, you should opt for personalized preventive care.