What time do you eat your evening meal? You may be raising your risk of having a stroke

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A stroke is a serious life-threatening medical condition that happens when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off. The second most common type of stroke, behind ischaemic stroke, is haemorrhagic stroke. This happens when a blood vessel inside the skull bursts and bleeds into and around the brain.

Poor lifestyle decisions have been shown to increase your risk of a haemorrhagic stroke.

Research suggests even seemingly innocuous decisions can raise your risk of having a haemorrhagic stroke.

A study published in the journal Nutrients examined the associations between supper timing and risks of mortality from stroke, coronary heart disease (CHD), and total cardiovascular diseases (CVD).

Although researchers found no association between meal timing and CHD or CVD risk, they did find one for stroke.

A total of 28,625 males and 43,213 females, aged 40 to 79 years, free from CVD and cancers at baseline were involved in this study.

Participants were divided into three groups: the early supper group (before 8pm), the irregular supper group (time irregular), and the late supper group (after 8pm).

Researchers gathered the data via a dietary assessment questionnaire.

This data was then compared with mortality data on each participant.

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Compared with the early supper group, there was an increased risk of haemorrhagic stroke mortality for the irregular supper group.

There was no significant association between supper timing and the risk of mortality from other types of stroke, CHD, and CVD.

“We found that adopting an irregular supper timing compared with having dinner before 8:00 p.m. was associated with an increased risk of haemorrhagic stroke mortality,” the researchers wrote.

They continued: “To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to investigate the association between supper timing and the risk of cardiovascular mortality.

“In this large population-based prospective cohort study, after adjusting for CVD risk factors, irregular supper timing was associated with an increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke mortality compared with early supper consumers.”

They added that they found positive associations between irregular supper timing and the risk of total stroke, haemorrhagic stroke, and total CVD mortality among subjects with body mass index (BMI) from 23 to 24.9.

The most widely used method to check if you’re a healthy weight is BMI. It is a measure of whether you’re a healthy weight for your height.

According to the NHS, for most adults, a BMI of:

  • 18.5 to 24.9 means you’re a healthy weight
  • 25 to 29.9 means you’re overweight.

Other stroke risk factors

According to the NHS, the main cause of haemorrhagic stroke is high blood pressure, which can weaken the arteries in the brain and make them more likely to split or rupture.

Things that increase the risk of high blood pressure include:

  • Being overweight
  • Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol
  • Smoking
  • A lack of exercise
  • Stress.

The NHS adds: “Haemorrhagic strokes can also be caused by the rupture of a balloon-like expansion of a blood vessel (brain aneurysm) or abnormally formed blood vessels in the brain.”

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