Mediterranean diet reduces stroke risk in women – but not men

We found that eating a Mediterranean diet may reduce the risk of stroke by more than one-fifth in women aged 40 or older, but it appears to have no significant impact on men’s risk of stroke. We also found that in both men and women at high risk of cardiovascular disease, those who followed a Mediterranean diet had a 13% reduced risk of stroke, although this reduction was largely driven by women.

 Symptoms of a Stroke in Women vs Men

Men and women who have strokes often feel similar symptoms of stroke such as face drooping, arm weakness and speech difficulty. Other common signs include problems seeing out of one or both eyes and balance or coordination problems. But some signs of stroke in women can be subtle enough to be missed or brushed off. That can lead to delays in getting time-sensitive, lifesaving treatments.

A stroke took away this neuroscientist’s sense of past and future

As a neuroanatomist at Harvard, I studied how our brain creates our perception of ­reality. And then one morning, I woke up with a sharp pain directly behind my left eye. In the course of four hours, I lost the ability to walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of my life. I was experiencing a major hemorrhage, bleeding in the left half of my brain, which rendered me an infant in a woman’s body.

After A Stroke, Women's Lives Are Worse Than Men's

Three months after the stroke, women reported having significantly lower quality of life than men. They were more likely to report problems with mobility, usual activities, depression and anxiety, and pain. A year after, there was less of a gender difference, but women still reported more problems with mobility, pain, depression and anxiety.

Alisha’s Story – Stroke at 26

I was 26 years old when I had my stoke. It was a haemorrhage and out of the blue, on the left side of my brain. I was absolutely shocked. It was just a normal day.

Gail’s Story – Stroke at 50

On arrival at the hospital, which by then was quite late, perhaps gone 11pm, I was examined by a doctor who said she was sure it wasn’t a stroke, (although I knew it was).

I had a stroke when I was 29. My brain aged 10 years overnight.

Women die from stroke at a much higher rate than men, according to the American Health Association. And hormonal contraceptives nearly double women’s risk of stroke.

Most U.S. Women Wouldn't Know A Stroke If They Saw Or Felt One

When the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association first began tracking women's awareness of stroke back in 1997, only 11 percent of women said they felt well-informed about what to watch for. The number today has crept higher but still not high enough, researchers say

Sleeping 9 Hours a Night May Raise Stroke Risk

Excessive sleeping or taking long naps was tied to an increased risk of having a stroke.

Stroke Risk Declining in Men but Not Women

“Maybe we’re not controlling risk factors to the same extent in women. Or maybe there’s a biological difference in the way these risk factors cause strokes in men versus women.”

Study on Stroke in Women Focuses on Risks From Pregnancy

Controlling high blood pressure and other risk factors related to pregnancy and use of birth control can significantly reduce a woman's chance of suffering a stroke later in life, according to guidelines published Thursday.

Women More Likely to Have Strokes Than Men

The medical community all but threw a party for itself when it recently announced that strokes had declined by nearly 40 percent in the last two decades. A recent study threw cold water on that, showing that only about half of us should be celebrating.

Women who delay pregnancy until 40s 'at greater risk of heart attack or stroke'

Research presented at the American Stroke Association shows risk of ischemic stroke increased from 2.4% to 3.8% for women pregnant over the age of 40

Young women may face greater stroke risk than young men

What accounts for the higher incidence of stroke in young women? Leppert said pregnancy, birth control pills and conditions such as migraines and auto-immune disorders, which are more prevalent in women, may help to explain why.