• Definition
• Symptoms
• Causes
• Risk factors
• Complications
• Preparing for your appointment
• Tests and diagnosis
• Treatments and drugs
• Coping and support
• Prevention

• RSS Feeds

Prevention

By Mayo Clinic staff

Knowing your stroke risk factors, following your doctor's recommendations and adopting a healthy lifestyle are the best steps you can take to prevent a stroke. If you've had a stroke or a TIA, these measures may help you avoid having another stroke. Many stroke prevention strategies are the same as strategies to prevent heart disease. In general, healthy lifestyle recommendations include:

• Controlling high blood pressure (hypertension). One of the most important things you can do to reduce your stroke risk is to keep your blood pressure under control. If you've had a stroke, lowering your blood pressure can help prevent a subsequent transient ischemic attack or stroke. Exercising, managing stress, maintaining a healthy weight, and limiting the amount of sodium and alcohol you eat and drink are all ways to keep high blood pressure in check. Adding more potassium to your diet also may help. In addition to recommending lifestyle changes, your doctor may prescribe medications to treat high blood pressure.
• Lowering the amount of cholesterol and saturated fat in your diet. Eating less cholesterol and fat, especially saturated fat and trans fats, may reduce the plaque in your arteries. If you can't control your cholesterol through dietary changes alone, your doctor may prescribe a cholesterol-lowering medication.
• Quitting tobacco use. Smoking raises the risk of stroke for both the smoker and nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke. Quitting tobacco use reduces your risk of stroke.
• Controlling diabetes. You can manage diabetes with diet, exercise, weight control and medication.
• Maintaining a healthy weight. Being overweight contributes to other stroke risk factors, such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Weight loss of as little as 10 pounds may lower your blood pressure and improve your cholesterol levels.
• Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. A diet containing five or more daily servings of fruits or vegetables may reduce your risk of stroke.
• Exercising regularly. Aerobic exercise reduces your risk of stroke in many ways. Exercise can lower your blood pressure, increase your level of high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or "good") cholesterol, and improve the overall health of your blood vessels and heart. It also helps you lose weight, control diabetes and reduce stress. Gradually work up to 30 minutes of activity — such as walking, jogging, swimming or bicycling — on most, if not all, days of the week.
• Drinking alcohol in moderation, if at all. Alcohol can be both a risk factor and a preventive measure for stroke. Heavy alcohol consumption increases your risk of high blood pressure, ischemic strokes and hemorrhagic strokes. However, drinking small to moderate amounts of alcohol may help prevent ischemic stroke and decrease your blood's clotting tendency.
• Treat obstructive sleep apnea, if present. Your doctor may recommend an overnight oxygen assessment to screen for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). If OSA is detected, it may be treated by giving you oxygen at night or having you wear a small device in your mouth.
• Avoiding illicit drugs. Certain street drugs, such as cocaine and methamphetamines, are established risk factors for a TIA or a stroke. Cocaine reduces blood flow and can cause narrowing of arteries.

Preventive medications
If you've had an ischemic stroke or TIA, your doctor may recommend medications to help reduce your risk of having another stroke. These include:

• Anti-platelet drugs. Platelets are cells in your blood that initiate clots. Anti-platelet drugs make these cells less sticky and less likely to clot. The most frequently used anti-platelet medication is aspirin. Your doctor can help you determine the right dose of aspirin for you.

  Your doctor may also consider prescribing Aggrenox, a combination of low-dose aspirin and the anti-platelet drug dipyridamole, to reduce the risk of blood clotting. If aspirin doesn't prevent your TIA or stroke, or if you can't take aspirin, your doctor may instead prescribe an anti-platelet drug such as clopidogrel (Plavix).

• Anticoagulants. These drugs, which include heparin and warfarin (Coumadin), reduce blood clotting. Heparin is fast acting and may be used over a short period of time in the hospital. Slower acting warfarin may be used over a longer term.

  Warfarin is a powerful blood-thinning drug, so you'll need to take it exactly as directed and watch for side effects. Your doctor may prescribe these drugs if you have certain blood-clotting disorders, certain arterial abnormalities, an abnormal heart rhythm or other heart problems. Other newer blood thinners may be used if your TIA or stroke was caused by an abnormal heart rhythm.

• Mayo Clinic products and services

• Stroke treatment at Mayo Clinic
• Book: Mayo Clinic Healthy Heart for Life!
• Give today to find cures for tomorrow

• See Also

Hand Scheduled
Section Focus
• Red meat — no longer bad for us?

Related Links
Related Guides
Children
Parent

Mayo Clinic Store

Check out these best-sellers and special offers on books and newsletters from Mayo Clinic.

• Try Mayo Clinic Health Letter FREE!
• Mayo Clinic Book of Alternative Medicine
• Mayo Clinic Five Steps to Controlling High Blood Pressure
• Reach out to Mayo Clinic pregnancy experts for confidential advice

The Mayo Clinic Diet — Eat well. Enjoy life. Lose weight.