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The World Health Organization has identified stroke as the third major killer disease of humans. More than 150,000 Americans die of stroke each year - a full one-third of all those who suffer stroke. Another 150,000 will be left with a severe disability that is permanent and affects their ability to enjoy their optimum life.

A stroke is an alteration in the brain, in which you are aware of that alteration and your diminished capabilities. As frightening as the varieties of cancer, stroke also comes in varieties with various accompanying results. An aneurysm is a spontaneous hemorrhage rupture due to a weakness in a part of the artery wall in the brain, and are very deadly, coming without warning and killing half of their victims.

A hemorrhage caused by the rupture of small blood vessels in the brain is most often related to the long-term debilitating effects of high blood pressure, and is found moreso in people over age 50. When it occurs, the build up of blood in the brain causes pressure inside the skull, which can lead to damage, loss of function, mental confusion, and even unconsciousness.

A stroke occurs when a part of the brain is deprived of the constant supply of blood that it requires to function. Blocking blood flow to the brain results in damage to nerve cells, which in turn die and cannot grow back. Men and women experience strokes in nearly even numbers, with some variance due to age.

There are important risk factors for stroke. Let's take a look.

High blood pressure: Causes your blood vessels to degenerate, and is the most important risk factor in the cause of stroke. It can be directly attributed to lifestyle choices.

High total cholesterol: Clogs your arteries and slows your blood flow; it can be caused by heredity or from consuming too many foods high in saturated fats.

Physical inactivity: Increases risk of stroke by 50%, according to the WHO. Physical activity gets the blood pumping, and is one factor in controlling weight, blood pressure, and risk of other diseases.

What does the WHO recommend that anyone do in order to reduce their risk for stroke?

Move: Physical activity at a moderate level on most days of the week reduces your risk for stroke. Get a pedometer and start walking at the very minimum!

Overload your plate: With fruits and vegetables. You can't have too many fruits or vegetables, which help to fill you with fiber, control weight, and provide vital nutrients to all of your body.

Wise fats: Avoid saturated fats like the plague that they are. Reach for unsaturated fats such as canola, safflower, and olive oils, as well as the good oils found in nuts and seeds. Use all oils sparingly.

Regular check ups: You take your car in for oil changes and check ups, so it is only right that you take even better care of your most important asset: your health. Seeing your physician on a regular basis to get an assessment of where you are with your cholesterol and blood pressure, then following all advice accordingly can greatly reduce your risk of stroke, as it can give you guidelines and a map of yourself to work from.

The news does not have to be all grim and dire, when we can take measures to help reduce our risk factors for debilitating and/or deadly diseases such as stroke. It is better to start today, while we may still have the opportunity to do so, rather than look back at today, if even given the opportunity, and wishing we had taken the initiative to take the best care of ourselves possible.

No one can care more about your health and well-being than you do, so take as good a care of your body as you would the welfare of your family. Whole foods nutrition is one of the greatest preventative weapons in your personal arsenal for combatting the diseases that would rob you of the most optimum health and the best life you can achieve. What are monetary wealth and fame without health? Realize that the greatest wealth possible is found in good health, because once gone, it is not always an option to buy back.

Choose vibrant and optimum health, because you deserve it.