Obesity and Stroke - A Match Made in Heaven?

Stroke risk factors include various physical and lifestyle specific risks. One of them is overweight and obesity.

Obesity is a condition in which the energy reserves of the human body stored in the fatty tissues is increased to dangerous levels. It may be caused by various reasons overeating, some kind of illness such as hypothyroidism, medications, insufficient sleep, stress, smoking cessation.

Obesity is among the risk factors of all types of stroke but it is within the top risk factors for ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke, caused by blockage or constriction of a blood vessel in the brain. Atherosclerosis, or narrowing of the arteries, which may lead to the formation of an arterial blood clot, is an important pre-condition of many strokes. Atherosclerosis is accelerated by high blood pressure, smoking, high cholesterol and lack of exercise. Obesity, especially morbid obesity is frequently associated with a high-fat diet, raised blood pressure and lack of exercise. Thus obesity is now considered an important secondary risk factor for strokes.

There is a well known connection between obesity and all heart related diseases. Moreover overweight people usually suffer from high blood pressure and high cholesterol which are among the rest of the stroke risk factors.

Obesity appears to be a risk factor for strokes in both men and women. Many studies prove that there is a connection between obesity in the abdominal area and stroke among men. Middle ages men with unhealthy weight and abdominal obesity are more likely to suffer from stroke later in life than men with healthy weight. The same relation is not that certain when it comes to women though however many studies do manage to prove that overweight women are up to four times more at risk especially with increasing of age. Another significant finding is that obesity in younger people between the age of 18 and 65 years, drastically increases the risk of stroke among young people.

Being obese will bring you nothing but problems. Even if we forget the risks of stroke, coronary heart disease, the problems with joints and bones, being obese spoils your look, makes you feel weak and ugly. There are many things one could do to keep fit and control his or hers body weight. The most common way is by healthy diet and exercising. The key is to find the right diet the best thing to do is to consult with a specialist in order to get things right.