October 29 is World Stroke Day, a good reminder that the same circulation feeds your heart and your brain.
Your brain is about 2 percent of your body weight, yet it takes about 20 percent of your blood flow, through vessels mostly thinner than a hair. Anything that harms those vessels harms your brain, usually before you feel a thing.
The Loud Version and the Quiet One
A stroke is the loud version. A vessel blocks or bursts and the damage is sudden. According to the CDC, stroke takes an American life every three minutes and fourteen seconds.
The quiet version plays out over twenty or thirty years. Small arteries in the brain narrow and stiffen until fog, slower thinking and trouble finding words set in. Its name is vascular cognitive impairment, the second most common cause of dementia after Alzheimer's.
Since 2004, stroke deaths have dropped 24 percent while dementia deaths have climbed 47 percent. We got better at surviving the emergency, so more of us live long enough for the slow decline to show.
Know the Signs: BE FAST
Balance lost, Eyes blurred, Face drooping, Arm weak, Speech slurred, Time to call 911. If any of these come on suddenly, don't wait to see if it passes. Note when it started, because treatment works best in the first hours and the hospital will ask.
Three Ways Forward
The American Heart Association estimates about 80 percent of strokes are preventable. Your heart and brain share the same allies, so these three changes help both. Choose one and work on it for the next few weeks.
Know your numbers. Blood pressure is the biggest lever, behind roughly half of all strokes. Check it at the pharmacy, at home or with your doctor. If your last labs were a year ago, ask for a fasting glucose or A1c and a lipid panel too.
Get your heart rate up three times this week. Aim for half an hour at a pace where you can talk but not sing, like hiking, cycling or a dance class. Each session sends fresh oxygen to your brain.
Follow the MIND diet, an anti-inflammatory, Mediterranean-style way of eating. Start with dark leafy greens every day, two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil a day and wild salmon one to two servings a week. Limit red meat, pastries and sweets, plus fried or fast food.
Stroke survivors were once my patients and I stayed beside them through a very challenging recovery. Today I coach women in midlife and beyond while there's time to change the story, which is why 80 percent preventable matters so much to me.
Curious how well your daily habits are supporting your brain and heart? Take my 2-minute brain health quiz here.
Aging well isn't luck, it's a strategy. What's yours?
Be well,
Christine Despres, RN, NBC-HWC, CDP
Brain & Metabolic Health Coach
