The Risk Of Stroke Will Decrease If You Switch To A Healthy Lifestyle In Middle Age

The risk of stroke will decrease if you switch to a healthy lifestyle in middle age

Quitting smoking, improving diet, losing weight and exercising have reduced the number of strokes in middle-aged women by about a quarter.

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Lifestyle changes even in adulthood extend life. The number of studies that support this is growing every year. A new scientific paper published in the journal Stroke has shown that women who become more active, normalize their diet and quit smoking in their 50s have a lower risk of stroke.

Scientists remind that women develop strokes more often than men, and their prognosis is worse. The average age of the first stroke for women is 75 years. The authors of the new study wanted to test whether lifestyle changes in middle age could reduce the incidence of illness in women.

“We found that the transition to a healthy lifestyle between the ages of 50 and 60 has the potential to prevent stroke,” says Professor Bernard Lown, professor at the T.H. School of Public Health. Chana, author of a new study.

Scientists analyzed data from a large Nursing Health Study, which was attended by about 60 thousand women. Participants were included in the study when they were on average 52 years old, and the researchers followed them for about 26 years.

The authors of the study focused on the effects of smoking cessation, exercise (at least 30 minutes per day), gradual weight loss and normalization of the diet. By improving the diet, scientists meant including more fish, nuts, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, as well as reducing the amount of red and processed meat and alcohol.

In women who quit smoking at the same time, began to exercise and lost weight, the risk of all types of stroke decreased by 25%, ischemic stroke - by 36%. Optimizing the diet reduced the overall risk of stroke by 23%.

Scientists suggest that their new findings can be extended to men.