Whats the link among exercise, stroke, and memory protection?
Sam: Exercise can dramatically reduce your risk of stroke, which is the brain equivalent of a heart attack. In the most common type of stroke, a blocked blood vessel prevents blood flow to a particular brain region, leading to neuron death and dysfunction. If you survive a stroke, you have a significantly increased risk of cognitive impairment, memory loss, and AD. A report from the Archives of Neurology showed that people with a history of full-blown stroke were about 60% more likely to receive a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease than were those with no history of stroke. If you have significant risk factors for stroke — such as hypertension, diabetes, and smoking — you may have an increased risk of declines in executive function, according to a study published in Stroke that assessed the 10-year risk of stroke in more than 2,000 men and women. Obviously, a major stroke — for instance, one in which you get a big clot in a big vessel that cuts off blood flow to a significant portion
