Your body's ability to prevent a stroke before it starts could be greatly enhanced if you made one simple change to your daily routine. The tactic? Ride a bike a few times each week.
When older, inactive women in a study hopped on their bikes for just 35 minutes three times a week, their bodies' ability to reduce stroke-provoking blood clots improved after just 21 days on the exercise bicycle program.
Stroke stopper
The risk of stroke creeps up as we get older because our body's ability to break up blood clots diminishes with age. This is especially the case for postmenopausal women, who are particularly at risk of ischemic strokes. These strokes happen when blood clots block blood flow to a part of the brain.
About 90 percent of all strokes are ischemic strokes. This makes it all the more comforting to know that sticking with a few simple habits as we age—like engaging regularly in physical activity, whether on an exercise bicycle, or by simply walking briskly on a regular basis—can help boost our clot-busting powers.
(Save your brain and learn more about subtle signs of a stroke.)
Getting back into balance
For best results, you'll want to make sure you work up a small sweat when you ride, walk, or hike. The women in the study experienced improvements in blood clots when they worked out at about 70 percent of their maximum heart rate for each 25-minute session. So be sure to kick it up a notch or two above a leisurely pace (assuming that your health and your healthcare provider allow it).
You can calculate your maximum heart rate with this guide.
Aside from regular aerobic exercise like the exercise bicycle, controlling your sodium intake is another good way to slash stroke risk. Too much salt in the diet may lead to high blood pressure, a risk factor for stroke.
You may already know this, but quitting smoking is essential for reducing your stroke risk (and your overall health). The same goes for quitting or limiting your alcohol intake to no more than one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men.
