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Stroke and Obesity
April 15, 2008 |
It’s no secret that obesity is reaching epidemic proportions in the United
States. The battle of the bulge is also a problem for many people in Southwest
Florida. Dr. Salvatore Lacagnina is the Director of LMHS Wellness Centers. He
says, “A lot of people will come in very frustrated because they’ve tried all
sorts of diets and sometimes medications and they can’t get the weight off.
Weight issues are so problematic because they really lend themselves to creating
problems with heart disease with metabolic syndrome with diabetes.” Now you can
add stroke risk to that list. Research from the University of Southern
California found that the increase in obesity rates is significantly linked to
more strokes, especially in women between the ages of 35 to 54. Dr. Paul
Driscoll works with the Stroke Unit at Lee Memorial Hospital. He says, “Obesity
plays an important role because with obesity people tend to have problems with
high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol. High blood pressure and
diabetes are two significant risk factors for stroke.” When it comes to
regulating those conditions and lessening your risk of having a stroke,
physicians say exercise may be your best medicine. “Those people who were active
had a significantly lower risk of stroke and had better control over their
diabetes, high blood pressure and lipids as a result of just going out and
exercising on a near daily basis four or five times a week,” says Dr. Driscoll.
Whether you’re overweight or not physicians say being able to recognize stroke
symptoms is important for women and men. “Anyone, not just women, but anyone who
has unexplained loss of speech, loss of vision, weakness in one side of the body
or numbness on one side o f the body or other sudden change in their ability to
ambulate and walk and balance they should just call 9-1-1,” says Dr. Driscoll.
Right now there are nearly six million stroke survivors in the U-S. More than
three million of them are women. Lee Memorial Hospital is equipped with a
special stroke unit to help care for patients from the time they arrive at the
hospital all the way through a physical therapy routine. |
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