Exercise: Stroke Prevention Medicine

Jeff Porter
Stroke of Faith

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

I'm convinced that being a longtime distance runner helped me survive and recover from my stroke in 1998. Fifteen years later, I'm still doing it.

Not to say that running is for everyone. Some people can't stand it or aren't ready for it. Even starting a walking program, though, could reap benefits, according to a recent article how exercise can be a powerful medicine:

Photo from the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control
and Prevention

▶ Exercise may be as effective as medication in preventing early death in people who've had heart attacks or strokes, a new study suggests.

▶ "Doctors should give their patients advice about the lifesaving benefits of exercise, and when possible they should refer patients to rehabilitation programs with exercise programs," says the study's lead author, Huseyin Naci, a fellow at Harvard Medical School and a graduate student at the London School of Economics.

Preventing a stroke is far better than trying to recover from one (or another one). Exercise, I'm convinced, can be a huge help.

See the original article:

Exercise: Stroke Prevention Medicine

in

Stroke of Faith