May is stroke awareness month and according to the American Heart Association, someone in the United States has a stroke every 40 seconds, accounting for one out of every 19 deaths. Connie Wessels, Program Manager of Community Health at OSF says it’s important to know that stroke is 80 percent preventable…..
“Strokes can be prevented has a lot to do with our lifestyle choices and one of them being a healthy diet and watch the amount of fat intake, because again, if you have too much cholesterol in your body that can build up causing a clout, of course interrupting the blood flow. So a healthy diet which also includes watching your salt intake because if you have too much of a high sodium intake, salt, it can cause a high blood pressure which high blood pressure actually can actually lead to a stroke as well. Get your cholesterol checked. Watch your weight. Physical activity can help so much. Don’t smoke. Smoking really increases your chances of a stroke and the other thing is limit your alcohol intake.”
Wessels adds remembering the acronym BE FAST is the simplest way to identify a stroke. B – if the person is suddenly losing their Balance. E – If they have sudden loss of vision in one or both Eyes. F – Is one side of the Face drooping down? A- Are they experiencing weakness in one or both Arms? S- Is their Speech slurred? and T- note the Time when the stroke symptoms began. BE FAST. If you spot any of these symptoms call 9-1-1.
