(WXYZ) — In today’s Health Alert, new stroke prevention guidelines have been released for the first time in a decade, focusing on the nation’s fourth leading cause of death. The American Stroke Association emphasizes the role of heart and brain health in preventing a first stroke.
I’m very passionate about stroke prevention. My father was a brilliant scientist, and he suffered a devastating stroke that dramatically changed his life and my family’s life. Since then, I’ve done a lot of research, and these new guidelines from the American Stroke Association are spot-on.
They encourage people to make healthy lifestyle changes. It’s all stuff I’ve talked about many times now. Quitting smoking, moving your body, eating healthy, and getting enough sleep can all lower your stroke risk.
It’s also important to get screened for stroke risk factors, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar levels, and obesity. If you have any of these risk factors, it’s important to treat them. Because here’s what happens when you have a stroke. Blood flow to part of the brain is either blocked or a blood-brain vessel bursts. This cuts off oxygen and nutrients, causing brain cells to die quickly, which can affect movement, speech, or memory.
When you eat healthy, it can improve your cholesterol, blood sugar levels and help lower obesity. The Association recommends limiting processed foods and focusing on foods from the Mediterranean diet—fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and olive oil. These can help keep cholesterol levels in check. They also suggest cutting back on red meat and saturated fats, preferring healthy protein sources like beans, nuts, poultry, fish, and seafood.
Getting your body moving can also help lower a major stroke risk by lowering blood pressure. Just walking for 10 minutes a day can really help. Of course, the more you move, the better. 150 minutes of moderate exercise is ideal. And it doesn’t matter how you do it—take a walk, dance, or hit the gym.
Now, some people might say, ‘Why should I exercise and eat right when I can just take the new drugs?’ New findings do show that GLP-1 drugs, like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound, support weight loss and blood sugar control, both of which play an important role in preventing stroke. But while these drugs are considered new tools to reduce stroke risk, anyone taking them still needs to exercise and eat healthily.
Overall, the new guidelines could make a big difference. They could lead to healthier lifestyles and save lives.
