Can stress cause a stroke? Stress is an important topic for heart health, and it can be a significant factor in stroke risk. In this blog post, we will discuss how stress contributes to developing acute cardiovascular events such as strokes and how you can reduce your risk by managing your stress levels.
What is a stroke?
When part of your brain is cut off from blood supply, this can result in a stroke, a severe life-threatening condition.
A stroke happens when a blood clot blocks an artery in the brain, depriving the brain of oxygen and nutrients. It can lead to lasting disabilities, including paralysis, speech difficulties and memory problems.
Fortunately, strokes are often preventable if you have self-knowledge of their risk factors. For example, high blood pressure makes it more likely for you to have a stroke, so methods for lowering your blood pressure need to be employed, such as limiting salt or eating less processed foods (e.g., quick snacks).
There is a continuum from not-too-serious events like TIAs (Transient Ischemic Attacks), where some symptoms may recede over time, to events like strokes where the body reacts in such an extreme fashion that it takes life-altering changes.
You must be aware of your own risks factors and how they affect what might happen if there was a stroke event and know the signs and symptoms.
Some common signs are sensitivity to light, blurred vision, severe headache and slurred speech
Some common symptoms are numbness or weakness in arm or leg on one side of the body; sudden confusion about time or place; difficulty speaking that may get worse over a few hours (even if you were able to talk at first); sudden trouble seeing out of one or both eyes; difficulty walking, dizziness, loss of balance; and sudden severe headache with no known cause
It’s because people don’t know the signs and symptoms that we see more than 100,000 people in the U.S. having strokes every year without knowing it. And by not recognizing these life-threatening events as they happen, many never recover fully from a stroke – losing their ability to speak, walk or recognize loved ones.
If you have any of these signs and symptoms, call 911 right away! Remember, time is the brain’s best friend when it comes to stroke care. Insufficient blood flow can lead to brain injury in minutes. And the faster treatment begins after a person has had a stroke, the better their chances for recovery.
The good news is that by learning more about strokes and stroke risk factors, we can help reduce them.
Stroke risks
Here are some significant ways a person might be at higher risk of having a stroke:
- Diabetes
- High blood pressure or high cholesterol (or both)
- A family history of stroke, heart disease, and blockages in the arteries supplying blood to the brain are signs that someone might be at higher risk for having a stroke.
A stroke can happen if the brain is starved of oxygen. It may be related to a lack of blood flow or an accumulation of fat in artery walls, reducing the amount and speed at which blood flows away from heart muscle cells, called myocardial stunning (myo=muscle; kardia = the heart).
Strokes can be caused by a blocked artery, which decreases the flow of oxygenated blood to the brain. This medical emergency could also happen if an artery bursts and causes bleeding that blocks other arteries in the area. Strokes are often fatal because they interrupt communication between different areas of your brain, leading to paralysis or difficulty breathing.
Strokes can occur in young people. In the past, strokes were thought of as an older adult’s disease or a complication from high blood pressure, diabetes, heart failure, and other conditions that made arteries stiffen with age. But now we know that more than half of all strokes happen to people under 65 years of age, and some people can have a stroke at any age.
Strokes are also more likely in women than men, especially when they’re pregnant or after childbirth (postpartum). A woman’s risk of having a stroke becomes even more significant if she is overweight or has high blood pressure.
Types of strokes
Strokes can be either ischemic (caused by a blocked blood vessel) or hemorrhagic (due to bleeding within the brain). An ischemic stroke is caused by a clot blocking blood flow to the brain, depriving cells of oxygen and can result in severe brain damage or death. They are most likely to occur in adults with atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases, such as coronary artery disease or CAD.
Haemorrhagic strokes are caused when a vein ruptures and starts bleeding into the brain. A hemorrhagic stroke occurs when bleeding occurs inside the brain and does not result from obstruction of an artery supplying it. This can happen when certain types of tumors in the brain produce large amounts of blood or significant growths on prominent veins that eventually rupture.
This type of stroke commonly results in an intracerebral hematoma (ICH), subarachnoid hematoma (SAH), intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).
Thrombotic strokes have three major causes – arterial embolism, atrial fibrillation that presents as a stroke, and deep venous thrombosis.
Mortality rates after a stroke are high, depending on age and the type of stroke. In most cases, about half of those who survive an ischemic stroke will have significant permanent impairment.