How to Prevent a Stroke

Watch Your Weight

Extra baggage overworks your entire circulatory system and raises stroke risk. More younger women are having strokes, and rising obesity rates likely are to blame.
           
“Abdominal obesity is a known predictor of stroke in women and may be a key factor in the midlife stroke surge in women,” says Amytis Towfighi, M.D., of the neurology department of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
           

If you need to lose weight, aim to drop only 1 pound a week while exercising three times a week for 30 minutes at a time (brisk walking works great).