New research says that a mini stroke (aka TIA or transient ischemic attack) can shorten a person’s life span – by up to 20 percent over a nine-year period.
A TIA in and of itself does not shorten life span. Rather, it is an indicator or marker of things about the patient that can shorten life span.
“People experiencing a TIA won’t die from it, but they will have a high risk of early stroke and also an increased risk of future problems that may reduce life expectancy,” states Melina Gattellari, Ph.D. She is senior lecturer at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, The University of New South Wales, Sydney and Ingham Institute, Liverpool, Australia.
Dr. Gattellari recommends that doctors very closely help TIA patients manage their lifestyle for many years after the mini stroke. She urges mini stroke patients to quit smoking, manage their weight, exercise daily and eat healthy.
And therein lies the problem, because only one of these recommendations is straightforward and not open to misinterpretation: that of quitting smoking.
But just what does “exercise daily” mean? I’m a certified personal trainer. Many people, including those who have suffered a transient ischemic attack, believe they “exercise daily” or get “plenty of exercise.”
My mother has never been diagnosed with a TIA, but she did undergo quintuple bypass surgery. She told her doctors she had always gotten plenty of exercise.
If you’ve had a TIA (heart disease is a huge risk factor), ask yourself if the many shopping trips you do should count as structured cardio and weight-bearing exercise; or if mere housework counts as bone-building, muscle-strengthening, coronary plaque-fighting exercise.
A transient ischemic attack can result from a plaque fragment breaking off and traveling to the brain.
“Regular exercise” is that which does not include housework or “all the walking” you did at the store or on the job. “All the walking” my mother does at the store is a very slow walk, frequently interrupted by pausing to examine merchandise. This hardly compares to a nonstop, brisk, arm-pumping walk for 30 minutes.
High blood pressure is a risk factor for mini stroke. Strength training and aerobic exercise lower blood pressure. The TIA patient needs to work out hard enough to produce a training effect. Going through the motions is not enough.
My father has had what I believe were two transient ischemic attacks. The first TIA was never diagnosed, but what else could have caused his sudden dizziness and the feeling that one side of his body was “heavy” and “wants to pull to the right”?
The second suspected mini stroke consisted of sudden onset double vision. In the belated visit to the doctor, the doctor said he believed it was a TIA; an MRI more than two weeks later was negative, but a delayed MRI can’t always detect a mini stroke!
My father has been weight training for years – but – I recently discovered he hasn’t been doing much more than going through the motions! This really makes a difference!
“Regular exercise” means making the effort very challenging. At the end of a weight set, you should feel as though you worked hard. Not necessarily a beaten-up-and-battered hard, but at a minimum, a very challenging kind of hard.
If you’ve had a mini stroke and believe you eat healthy, read the ingredients of your foods. Avoid anything that says “hydrogenated” in the ingredients, regardless of what the front of the package says!
The FDA allows food companies to get away with labeling the front package with “Zero Trans Fats,” even though the product contains trans fats (disguised by the term “hydrogenated”).
Learn the names of synthetic food additives, then stop eating products containing them, along with foods containing artificial flavors, dyes and added sugars. It’s difficult to avoid added sugars (they are ubiquitous), but it’s easier than you think to avoid foods with synthetic chemicals and trans fats. Healthy eating means focusing mostly on plant-derived foods with minimal processing.
At the conclusion (nine-year mark) of Dr. Gattellari’s study, the survival rate of TIA patients came to 20 percent lower than expected. She says that “certainly, the risks faced by TIA patients go well beyond their early stroke risk.”
As for maintaining a “healthy weight,” a transient ischemic attack patient should have his body composition measured by a personal trainer, as this reveals percentage of body fat.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111110191946.htm