Stroke risks: Modifiable and Non-Modifiable

May is Stroke Awareness Month, although every day we should focus on ways to reduce our personal risk of stroke.

Many of us have several risk factors that cannot be changed, such as our age, our race and ethnicity, and our family history. These risk factors are what is known as nonmodifiable.

On the other hand, we can all work on reducing our personal, modifiable risk factors. In doing so, we not only reduce our risk of a stroke, but we also lower our risk factors for numerous chronic health conditions, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

Modifiable risk factors include such things as obesity, inactivity, smoking and alcohol misuse, poor sleep habits and poor stress management. Take a look at your personal daily lifestyle and decide how you can tackle one or two "bad habits" and watch how quickly you not only feel better, but that your personal health improves.

Always be sure and check with your healthcare provider on ways to reduce your personal risk for chronic health conditions. In doing so, you will improve not only your health, but that of family members as well. Win-win!!

For more information, visit the website, STROKE.org with the American Stroke Association.