{"id":11372,"date":"2020-05-11T10:50:25","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T14:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/?p=11372"},"modified":"2025-05-28T14:53:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T18:53:29","slug":"signs-of-a-stroke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.singlecare.com\/blog\/signs-of-a-stroke\/","title":{"rendered":"How to recognize the signs of a stroke"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a good chance you know someone who has had a stroke, or you will in your lifetime\u2014and that\u2019s because strokes are prevalent. More than 795,000 Americans have a stroke every year, according to the<\/span> Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)<\/span>. In other figures, someone in the United States has a stroke every 40 seconds. Every 3.5 minutes, someone dies of a stroke. And for those who survive, strokes are the leading cause of significant long-term disability.<\/span><\/p>\n

Strokes are dangerous and common, but there are still a lot of questions about them\u2014what is a stroke? What are the signs of a stroke? How can you prevent a stroke? Here, find the answers you need.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is a stroke?<\/span><\/h2>\n

To put it as plainly as possible, \u201ca stroke is damage to the brain caused by not enough blood getting to the brain,\u201d says Stephen Devries, MD, a preventive cardiologist and executive director of the nonprofit<\/span> Gaples Institute for Integrative Cardiology<\/span>. \u201cA stroke is caused by a problem with the blood vessels that go to the brain, which can happen either because the blood vessel becomes clogged from a cholesterol plaque or blood clot, or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts open due to <\/span>high blood pressure<\/span><\/a> or an inherited weakness in the artery.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

You often hear \u201cstroke\u201d in the same sentence as \u201cheart attack\u201d because they may have a related cause, but they are not the same thing. \u201c<\/span>Stroke occurs as a result of a blockage in the vessels that supply the brain with oxygenated blood, while a heart attack occurs due to a blockage that develops in the vessels that supply the heart muscle,\u201d explains Regina S. Druz, MD, FACC, a cardiologist with Catholic Health Services of Long Island and Chief Medical Officer with the Holistic Heart Centers of America (HHCA). \u201cWhile the organs are very different, the vascular and systemic events that involve stroke and heart attack are closely related, as are the underlying risk conditions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What are the risk factors of a stroke?<\/span><\/h2>\n

According to the <\/span>National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute<\/span><\/a>, some major risk factors that increase your chances of having a stroke include:<\/span><\/p>\n