Stroke is one of the most common causes of death in Germany and can leave severe disabilities in survivors. However, up to 90 percent of all strokes can be avoided with a healthier lifestyle. The following three risk factors are crucial.
In Germany, around 270,000 people suffer a stroke every year. Cardiovascular disease is one of the most common causes of death and is triggered either by a vascular occlusion (cerebral infarction or ischemic stroke) or a cerebral hemorrhage (hemorrhagic stroke). As with most diseases, there are risk factors for a stroke that can be avoided on the one hand and those over which we have no influence on the other. The latter include age – half of all strokes affect people over 75 – as well as genetic predisposition and gender.
However, it has been estimated that up to 90 percent of all strokes would be preventable if we minimized the following risk factors and maintained a healthy lifestyle.
Table of Contents
Stroke: Avoid these 3 risk factors
In the global INTERSTROKE study , a research team examined over 26,000 subjects from 32 countries to determine the most important risk factors for the potentially fatal stroke. Half of the participants had already suffered a stroke, the other half served as a healthy control group. All health data and lifestyle factors were then collected in order to find out which habits and previous illnesses were significantly involved in the development of the strokes. The researchers identified the following three main risk factors.
1. Hypertension
The undisputed number one risk factor is arterial hypertension. Chronically high blood pressure damages the vessel walls over the years, contributes to the development of hardening of the arteries and is responsible for almost half of all strokes . According to the researchers of the INTERSTROKE study, having high blood pressure increases the risk of a stroke by a factor of 6 to 12, depending on the blood pressure level. It is therefore all the more important to identify high blood pressure early and treat it quickly with the help of regular exercise, antihypertensive medication and a healthy, low-salt diet .
2. Lack of exercise
The second most important risk factor also shows how easily you can reduce your risk of stroke yourself: more than a third of all strokes are due to a chronic lack of exercise. This leads to the fact that the vessels freeze, the pumping capacity of the heart decreases and blood pressure rises. According to estimates, just four hours of physical activity or sport per week would be enough to reduce your risk of stroke by as much as 40 percent. Ideally, you do strength training twice a week and endurance training twice a week – this keeps your blood vessels elastic, your heart is strengthened and your risk of other diseases such as diabetes or heart attacks decreases.
3. Elevated cholesterol levels
Hypercholesterolaemia is a disorder of lipid metabolism in which there is too much bad LDL cholesterol and too little good HDL cholesterol in the blood. The excess of LDL is deposited in the vascular walls in the long term and promotes the development of arteriosclerosis. In addition to rare genetic causes, above all obesity, hypothyroidism, diabetes mellitus and an unhealthy diet cause cholesterol levels to rise. According to the INTERSTROKE study , the risk of a stroke doubles if the LDL cholesterol levels are permanently high.
Tip: You can use these signs to recognize a stroke in an emergency >>
Other risk factors that can be influenced
In addition to these three main causes, the following risk factors also contribute significantly to the development of a stroke and should be avoided or eliminated if possible:
- unhealthy diet
- obesity and belly fat
- smoking
- alcohol
- Mellitus diabetes