Prevention of cerebral stroke: an overview of all methods

From this article you will learn: what should be the qualitative prevention of cerebral stroke.

Stroke is an acute neurologic condition characterized by impaired blood circulation in the brain area. This is a serious pathology that can lead to the death of the patient or to serious violations in the subsequent and sharp decline in the quality of life - from moderate problems with memory and coordination to complete disability. That is why the prevention of this pathology should be of paramount importance - especially for men and women with a high risk of its occurrence.

The main preventive measures to combat stroke development include four groups of methods( links below is the content of the article):

general measures( healthy lifestyle, rejection of bad habits),
control of blood pressure and maintaining it within optimal limits,
vascular strengthening,
special prevention methods for people from high-risk groups.

Further in the article we will take a closer look at each of the items.

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There is no fundamental difference in methods of preventing stroke among men or women. In the prevention of much more importance is given not to the sex, but to the presence of certain diseases and conditions predisposing to the onset of a stroke.

1. General measures

A healthy lifestyle plays a vital role in preventing a number of diseases. And a stroke is no exception. So, what can be done to reduce the risk of acute circulatory disorders of the brain?

Refusal of bad habits

This includes, above all, smoking. Nicotine and other components of tobacco smoke have a lot of adverse effects on the state of the vascular wall, leading to its increased rigidity( density) and brittleness. Also smokers with experience are much more likely to suffer from hypertension, which is one of the main factors in the occurrence of hemorrhagic and ischemic strokes in both men and women.

In addition to smoking, it is important to avoid the abuse of alcoholic beverages, which lead to fluctuations in blood pressure and reduce the resistance of brain cells to ischemia( lack of blood flow).

Drug use is also associated with a high risk of vascular complications, including stroke.

Proper nutrition

Prevention of stroke is unthinkable without a healthy diet, which allows you to solve several problems at once: reduce excess weight, prevent the development of atherosclerosis or reduce the severity of its manifestations, avoid the deficiency of important substances for blood vessels and the heart.

Proper nutrition is not just a diet of the right caloric content. It also implies:

reduction in the diet of harmful saturated fats( butter, egg yolks, fat, animal fats);
enriching the menu with food fibers( fresh vegetables, fruits, berries, bran bread);
additional introduction of polyunsaturated fats( fish, vegetable oils), vitamins and minerals.

Sport activities

Regular exercise allows you to achieve a good level of fitness, maintain in a tone all the systems. Morning gymnastics, jogging or walking in the open air strengthen the vascular wall and normalize blood pressure, promote weight loss.

2. Control of blood pressure

Elevated blood pressure - the leading cause of acute circulatory disorders of the brain. In hypertensive patients, severe forms of stroke, with lethal outcome or disability, and repeated attacks of cerebral circulation disorders are much more often noted. That is why prevention of stroke in both men and women necessarily includes control of blood pressure.

According to the generalized statistical data, the systolic( upper) pressure is considered optimal in the range from 110 to 139 mm Hg. Art. The parameters with systolic blood pressure above 140 mm Hg. Art.testify to the presence of hypertension, which must be controlled and treated.

Control of blood pressure - this is not a trivial measurement of indicators in the morning and evening, although this procedure is mandatory. In addition to measurement, control includes drug and non-medicamentous measures aimed at maintaining blood pressure within optimal limits, for which it is necessary:

To undergo a test and get recommendations from a specialist - a therapist or cardiologist.
Observe the mode of day and rest: overwork and lack of sleep, night work, reading, computer games or watching TV at night lead to the formation of hypertension. In such situations, it is easy enough to reduce pressure without even resorting to drugs, and simply returning the right routine and ensuring a sufficient sleep and rest.
Prevent nerve stress, undergo training in relaxation techniques.
Provide yourself with rational physical activity - recommend quiet walking, swimming, gymnastics without sudden movements.
Follow the diet - with restriction of table salt, fatty and fried foods.
Carry out a drug correction, taking medications as prescribed by the doctor.

3. Vessel care

Along with the level of arterial pressure, for the prevention of cerebral circulation disorders, the state of the vascular wall is of the greatest importance. Increased density, brittleness and deposition of atherosclerotic plaques lead to vessel fragility and cerebral hemorrhage( hemorrhagic stroke), or to spasms, narrowing of the lumen of the vessels and the development of ischemia.

In order to keep the vessels as healthy as possible, it is necessary:

To maintain a balance between high and low density fats in the diet - high-density fats( polyunsaturated fatty acids) should predominate. This requires compliance with a low-cholesterol diet: refuse from fried and smoked dishes, animal fat;cook food steamed and boil.
Maintain a physically active lifestyle. The vascular wall of physically active men and women is much stronger and able to withstand more severe fluctuations in blood pressure( with a sharp rise, for example) compared with untrained patients. The elasticity of the vessels is well supported by water procedures: for example, a contrast shower.
With an existing atherosclerosis, it is advisable to follow a strict diet and take special medicines( statins).

4. Stroke prevention measures in high-risk groups

The following categories of patients are considered to be at high risk of developing a cerebral stroke:

Patients with atherosclerosis, hypertension - these states are so significant in terms of complications that the prevention measures for these people we considered above are individualblock.
Smokers with experience - the value of quitting smoking was also discussed above.
Men and women over the age of 50.
Persons with a hereditary burden.
Patients with obesity.
Patients with diabetes mellitus.
Persons with bleeding disorders( coagulopathy) with a tendency to thrombogenesis.
Patients with arrhythmias.
Women taking oral contraceptives.

How is the prevention of stroke in these cases?

Age and heredity of

It is impossible to do anything with the aging of the body - it is a physiological process. And it is also impossible to change heredity - it is what you got from your parents. However, in the presence of hereditary and age-related factors, the risk of their implementation, that is, the development of cerebral stroke, can be significantly reduced if we adhere to the general recommendations that we have discussed above.

Obesity

The importance of obesity in the occurrence of all kinds of health problems is difficult to exaggerate. Excess weight leads to:

to persistent and poorly treatable hypertension;
to lipid imbalance in the blood and, as a consequence, the onset of atherosclerosis;
to changes in the rheological properties of blood( increased viscosity, tendency to thrombosis);
to violations of the tone of the vessels of the brain;
to other multiple shifts that increase the risk of stroke.

In this case, the problem of weight loss is still poorly solvable. And it's not just that some patients just do not want to give up a comfortable and familiar way of life. In fact, most patients are ready to overestimate their views and when talking with a doctor they realize the need for weight reduction. However, in practice it is very difficult to do this - keeping a low-calorie diet and increasing physical activity is not always enough for losing weight, since obesity, especially pronounced, has hormonal, metabolic and metabolic disturbances that make it difficult to lose weight. Therefore, the problem of excess weight should begin to be solved as early as possible, together with experienced doctors of various specialties - endocrinologist, nutritionist, psychotherapist.

Diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic pathology that, with prolonged existence, always leads to disorders of microcirculation and pathology of the vascular wall. Prevent or at least slow down the appearance of these changes is only able to compensate for diabetes, that is, maintaining the level of glycemia( blood glucose) at the optimal level for this patient.

To achieve a stable compensation of diabetes it is necessary to follow all the recommendations of the attending physician( endocrinologist) - do not skip insulin injections( or take hypoglycemic preparations), follow a special diet, periodically undergo a test and adjust the therapy in a timely manner.

Coagulopathy

The tendency to increased thrombosis is observed in a number of diseases( varicose veins of the lower extremities, hereditary and acquired pathology of the coagulating system of blood, chronic heart failure, etc.).

If a patient has a thickening of blood and a tendency to thrombosis, it is necessary to prescribe special drugs( aspirin and its derivatives, quarantil, etc.) for the prevention of stroke, heart attack and other complications.

Arrhythmias

Heart rhythm disturbances lead to changes in the rheological properties of blood - increased viscosity, swirls and thickening with the formation of thrombi. Detached thrombi can enter the brain vessels and clog them, causing a stroke. Therefore, arrhythmias, as well as coagulopathies, require the inclusion in the complex therapy of antiaggregants - drugs that reduce the risk of thrombosis( aspirin, curantil).

Receiving oral contraceptives

Hormone-containing contraceptives have a side effect - they increase the risk of blood clots. Therefore, smoking women, as well as patients with varicose veins and coagulopathies should choose other methods to prevent unwanted pregnancies. But even with a good health in the case of prolonged use of hormonal contraceptives, it is necessary to undergo periodic examinations - to give a general blood test and a coagulogram( as directed by a gynecologist or therapist).

Conclusion

In conclusion, we present several facts that indicate how important and effective stroke prevention is:

quitting smoking already reduces the risk of stroke by about 40% within a year;
maintaining blood pressure levels within optimal limits prevents 80% of strokes;
weight loss and compliance with a low-cholesterol diet reduces the likelihood of cerebral circulation disorders by almost 2 times.