04/08/2025
It's National Stroke Week. Stroke occurs when blocked/burst blood vessels damage the brain. Most of my current audience probably haven't thought about stroke much. I'd urge you to take a moment and do so.
1) Early behaviours hugely impact later outcomes. Your body can tolerate a lot - we drink, smoke, skip sleep, train like crazy, eat junk, all these things that are "bad" for us - and yet we feel fine and perform great. We can feel invincible at times when younger.
The problem is, things add up over time, and we're living longer than ever. Arteries gradually block with time, and while the difference between 0-50% blockage is minimal with your symptoms, the next 50% comes quickly and you'll definitely find out.
Like compound interest, the early stages seem almonst meaningless, but given enough time, big changes happen fast. Delay that timeframe with healthier choices, and maybe the debt doesn't get too big too soon.
2) On top of this, strokes are happening more often to young people. Combined with living longer, that's not a great stat.
