Five Steps To Reducing Risk Of Stroke In Women

By Dr. Brian McDonough, Medical Editor

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Every forty seconds an American woman has a stroke. Now a study of over 32,000 women has been released that takes a look at what can be done to possibly prevent this from happening.

Naturally, the precautions must be started years before the stroke and continued for years. But the take home message is that it is not too difficult, at least not to difficult to understand.

Here are the steps: first, eat a healthy diet, don't smoke, drink moderate amounts of alcohol, exercise and keep your weight down to acceptable levels for your age and height.

Women who lived their life focused on these five areas reduced their risk of stroke by fifty percent.