5 ways to protection from stroke....

Today's post: Thursday, 10-16-2008

A stroke can kill you or disable you. The disability can include becoming a prisoner in your own body, unable to talk or unable to move or both.

So, the result to want is to never get one and/or to recover without disability if you do get one.

There are five different ways to do achieve this.

1. It was recently found and reported in the online health news that taking ginkgo biloba protects you from the worst damage if you get a stroke and sharply improves your chance of recovery. Even better, that was true in the people they studied who got a stroke when they were already taking ginkgo biloba before the stroke; it was true of the people who were given ginkgo biloba soon after a stroke; & it was even true of people who took ginkgo biloba a bit later after the stroke when other treatments tend to be too late to work.

(You do have to be quite careful in taking ginkgo biloba if you are taking prescription blood thinners however. This is because taking ginkgo biloba can multiply the effect of prescription blood thinners. How careful? If you need to take both, you might need a day or two in the hospital to be able to have your doctor safely adjust the dose of the prescription blood thinner you are taking. And, even then it’s a bit risky.

The good news is that if you take gingko biloba and follow other good health practices, you may well avoid needing to take prescription blood thinners)

It’s been known for years that taking gingko biloba can help you stay mentally sharp as you get older. But that taking gingko also protects you from any strokes you get is new and incredibly welcome news.

2. It’s also been shown that eating blueberries tends to prevent you from getting strokes in the first place. Eating blueberries tends to protect your blood vessels from oxidation or accumulating plaque due to their very high antioxidant levels. They also do this by increasing your beneficial HDL cholesterol. Also, since they have been reported to improve the mental sharpness of older people who eat them they may share some of the protective properties of gingko biloba. Blueberries also have vitamin C and other micronutrients that directly keep your blood vessels smooth and healthy. That also tends to prevent plaque from building up in your blood vessels enough for strokes to occur. (The small tears in your blood vessels that your body tends to patch up with plaque tend not to happen if you eat blueberries and take enough vitamin C. These small tears can also help cause hemorrhagic or “bleeding inside the brain” stokes.)

Lastly, blueberries taste great. So this is an easy method to use. I find they go very well with Quaker’s Old Fashioned Oatmeal and 1% lowfat milk.

3. The second way to recover from a stroke is to get really fast treatment.

The acronym to remember is FAST.

FACE If you look in the mirror or you look at the person you think may be having a stroke and when you or that person smiles one side of the face stays frozen while the other smiles, take action.

ARMS If you or the person you think may be having a stroke can raise only one arm out to the side or straight in front and the other doesn’t move, take action.

SPEECH If you or the person you think may be having a stroke cannot say a simple sentence, “I was very hungry at times yesterday.” or “I got to work late because my train was late.” would be two examples, take action.

TIME If someone is having a stroke, getting them to home treatment immediately if it can be done and to medical treatment within an hour can prevent death or serious damage.

A longer wait than an hour can cause avoidable death or serious damage and prevent recovery.

So fast action is critical. If you or the person you think may be having a stroke has one or more of these F, A, S signs, take action NOW.

First. Call 911 or an ambulance immediately. That ensures reasonably prompt arrival at the Emergency Room. And have the ambulance personnel or yourself phone ahead at the Emergency Room you are going to so they are ready when you arrive there.

Second. If you or the person you think may be having a stroke can swallow and you have them on hand, taking aspirin and ginkgo right away can be protective against strokes.

4. Work to keep yourself healthy and keep your blood pressure at healthy levels. Avoid smoking, exercise regularly, and avoid getting or staying fat. And, if you get high blood pressure, take action to lower it. It’s essential to include drugs if it gets over about 150 or 160 over 100.

(We are about to publish an eBook on how to lower high blood without drugs. By doing this with no drugs or with lower doses of fewer drugs you can have safe blood pressure without quality of life harming side effects. We will announce it in this blog when it is published and available.)

Bad heart and blood vessel health and high blood pressure cause strokes. So to avoid them keep your heart and blood vessels healthy and your blood pressure down to low normal levels.

5. Keep your brain flexible and healthy. Good circulation to your brain and a healthy well- functioning brain will be less likely to get a stroke and will be more likely to recover.

In addition to the other methods we’ve already covered in this post, keep your brain sharp and its circulation good with regular exercise, learning new things, and socializing with friends often.

Regular exercise literally grows new brain cells. It improves your brain’s blood circulation. And, it tends to relieve stress and optimize your neurotransmitters. The result is that people who exercise regularly including some exercises that cause you to be a bit out of breath at the end, of course without overdoing it., result in people with larger, better functioning brains who think better and make better decisions and are simply more competent.

Learning new things and conversation give your brain exercise just like running or strength training exercise your body.

Do all these 5 things or be ready to do them and you can usually avoid strokes or dangerous ones you don’t recover from.