By Staff Reports
(Hawaii)– From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.
There are about 800,000 strokes each year in the United States – and if the number seems high to you, consider how many of us have risk factors that could lead to strokes. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Amy Valderrama talks about that:
“High blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking are key risk factors for stroke. About half of Americans have at least one of these three risk factors.”
Other risk factors include being overweight, being physically inactive, and drinking too much alcohol.
But people can change these things and reduce their risk. Valderrama advises quitting smoking, eating a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight, and being physically active. She also says people should work with their doctor on cholesterol and blood pressure – as well as diabetes and heart disease, which also raise stroke risk.
Learn more at healthfinder.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.