Stress, type A personality may boost stroke risk

Turns out if you are impatient, driven, or hot-headed, you may be more likely to have a stroke compared to your more chilled-out counterparts, according to a new study released last week.

Having these type A personality traits may boost your chances by two-fold, while chronic stress can increase your stroke risk almost four-fold.

"Our findings indicate that people can lower their stroke risk by attempting to reduce the stress in their lives," says researcher Ana Maria Garcia, MD, of the Hospital Clinico Universitario San Carlos in Madrid. The study is published online in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

To reach their findings, Garcia and her team looked at 150 people who had experienced strokes and 300 randomly selected subjects who had not had strokes. The average age of the subjects was 54, much younger than the typical stroke patients. The rationale? Garcia noted that studying the impact of stress on stroke is easier in younger people who'd had strokes due to the fact that they were much less likely to have health issues such as high blood pressure that can play a role in strokes.

According to the findings, other factors increasing your risk for stroke include being a current or past smoker and drinking two or more energy drinks a day -- both of which doubled your odds of a stroke.

While reducing your stress, stopping smoking, and easing off the Red Bull may improve your odds of stroke, another new study published last week offers some surprising finds. Swedish researchers say the consumption of low-fat dairy products such as cheese and yogurt could help reduce risk of stroke. This study, published by French institute CERIN (Centre de recherche et d'information nutritionnelles), followed 75,000 Swedish participants aged 45 to 83 over the course of a decade.