
Watch this first to understand how strokes disable and heart attacks can kill thousands, as introduced in the course.
Master ten practical steps to cut stroke risk in 2025. Tackle blood pressure, diet, exercise, diabetes, smoking, alcohol, weight, stress, sleep, and early warning signs.
Learn lifestyle strategies to prevent stroke, including managing blood pressure and cholesterol, exercising regularly, eating a nutritious diet, maintaining a healthy weight, quitting smoking, managing diabetes, and improving sleep quality.
Discover the lecturer's perspective on the topic, highlighting strokes and heart attacks within the broader course focus.
Explore what a stroke is, how disrupted brain blood supply damages tissue, and how recognizing risk factors, TIA, FAST signs, and emergency response can prevent and manage stroke.
This lecture outlines non-changeable stroke risk factors—age, gender, race, and conditions like patent foramen ovale—alongside major, changeable risks such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking.
Explore how atrial fibrillation raises stroke risk up to 500 percent, how many related strokes are preventable, and how to detect irregular pulses with a monthly pulse check.
Diabetes greatly raises stroke risk by damaging vessels; manage blood sugar with diet, exercise, and medicines, and control blood pressure and cholesterol to prevent strokes.
Monitor high blood pressure, the single most important stroke risk factor, limit salt to 1500 mg daily, eat fish and whole grains, and quit smoking.
Prioritize a plant-based, fiber-rich diet to lower stroke risk. Include antioxidant foods to reduce inflammation and avoid high cholesterol, salty, and processed items to protect arterial health.
Explore how foods like beetroot, garlic, leafy greens, turmeric, oily fish, and pomegranates may reduce stroke risk by lowering blood pressure, while avoiding refined and processed options that raise risk.
Regular coffee (one cup daily) may reduce stroke risk by 20%, and tea may lower heart attack risk; avoid fizzy drinks and limit alcohol, with red wine preferred.
Identify nutrients that reduce stroke risk by improving blood flow and preventing clots, including antioxidants, omega-3s, potassium, magnesium, nitric oxide, and carotenoids from foods.
Excess consumption of animal products promotes atherosclerosis and stroke via gut bacteria converting carnitine and lecithin into artery-clogging compounds; reduce animal intake, emphasize plant foods, and lower modifiable risk factors.
Quit smoking to reduce stroke and heart disease risk by preventing arterial damage and clots from tobacco smoke. Recognize that all tobacco forms, including sheesha, are harmful.
Vitamin D deficiency doubles stroke risk and promotes arterial stiffness, while vitamin B complex, vitamin C, and vitamin K2 support brain vessels, blood flow, and cholesterol management.
Explore how prescription and recreational drugs influence stroke risk, including aspirin and warfarin as prevention, and identify sex-specific risk factors and lifestyle influences.
Manage stress to lower stroke and heart disease risk by regulating the HPA axis and fight-or-flight response, using mindfulness, diaphragmatic breathing, and other regular stress reduction techniques.
Seven hours of sleep helps recovery and lowers stroke risk; poor sleep quality, sleep apnea, snoring, and obesity raise cardiovascular risk. Avoid sleeping pills, which may independently increase stroke risk.
This is the concluding lecture. Attached to this lecture is a detailed workbook which concentrates on TIAs and preventive strategies. This is a workbook to be read, reacted to, used and researched. NOT just to skim through. Enjoy!
Counter daily blues and reduce anxiety by using hands-on strategies like knitting, crochet, cross-stitching, stress balls, therapy putty, mindfulness, drawing, and discreet fidget tools such as a fidget pad.
Explore stress relief through creative activities like diamond painting, drawing, and meditation, and examine strategies such as exercise, clutter cleanup, and engaging hobbies to reduce stress and improve health.
Read silently for six minutes to cut stress by 68% and slow your heart rate, a result highlighted by Mind Lab International at the University of Sussex.
Over ten days, implement at least ten stress-reduction activities, log a hundred techniques into a personal ebook, and publish a morning-evening gratitude journal on Amazon.
Learn practical cognitive behavioral techniques to lower stress using mind-body medicine, present-moment coping strategies, breathing, relaxation, social support, and healthy habits for resilience.
practice small acts of kindness to reduce stress and loneliness by litter pickup, listening to buskers, donating to charity shops, and helping neighbors with gardens and care packages.
Explore stress reduction by organizing ideas into environmental and cognitive strategies, offering practical methods like calming environments, aromatherapy, books, and positive affirmations.
Channel your strengths into beauty through creative strategies and art therapy, focusing on process over product. Practice journaling, painting, photography, music, gardening, and new hobbies to relax and reduce stress.
Learn physical strategies to reduce stress through stretching, aerobic activity, bodyweight exercises, yoga and tai chi, plus a healthy diet and hydration for overall well-being.
Laughter releases endorphins and improves breathing, supporting heart health. Boost nitric oxide production to dilate arteries, provide cardio-like benefits, improve brain function, and reduce stress.
Discover how time management, planning, and organization reduce stress and procrastination, optimize stock and finances, and create a clean work environment to visualize success.
Explore relational stress across family, partner, employer, bank, and local shops, and learn stress reduction through social interaction, kindness, forgiveness, volunteering, and simple activities.
Highlight outdoor strategies to reduce stress, using sunshine for vitamin d, fresh air, and sensory experiences like walking, stargazing, picnics, and listening to water and campfire sounds.
Learn how high blood pressure increases stroke risk and damages arteries, heart, kidneys, and eyes. Discover practical steps to control blood pressure through stopping smoking, healthy eating, and regular exercise.
Master the 4-7-8 breathing technique to induce deep relaxation, ease anxiety, lower blood pressure, and improve sleep, with guidance on posture, frequency, and practice.
Explore how strength training builds muscle and bone density, reduces frailty, and lowers heart disease and diabetes risk for older adults.
Explore affordable ways to exercise, using household items as weights, monitor blood pressure, and apply the four seven eight breathing technique to reduce stroke and heart attack risk.
Analyze stroke data across countries: 1.5 million sufferers, 9 million living with stroke, and 430k deaths. The report calls for prevention, investment, data collection, and a Europe-wide stroke action plan.
Apply art therapy techniques to manage worries by shaping a cloud of thoughts and using two jars to separate concerns and reshape them into calmer reflections.
Explore mind mapping to reduce anxiety by focusing on one issue. Label triggers, emotions, thoughts, and physical sensations while applying calming techniques.
Explore a study linked in the art therapy course, review notes and links, research the study, and post a summary or reaction in the question-answer section.
Explore a process-oriented art therapy exercise that addresses stress, high blood pressure, and stroke risk, focusing on interpretation, mood, calming shapes, and mindfulness through meditation and breath.
Art therapy calms the nervous system and interrupts rumination, helping you focus on one task and relieve stress through tactile shapes and colors. Boost self-esteem and encourage verbal expression.
Discover how art therapy can reduce the economic burden of strokes, heart attacks, and other preventable illnesses through vision boards and intention setting.
creative art therapy added to conventional physical therapy reduces depression and improves physical function and quality of life for stroke survivors; art-loving individuals show better energy, mobility, and memory.
Explore art therapy and strokes by researching the provided study and responding to the study, the lecture, and the art therapy exercise in the course Q&A.
Arts-based therapies support stroke rehabilitation by enabling emotional expression and personal connection. Randomized trials show art interventions improve mental health, reduce distress, and boost engagement in rehab.
Develop art-based coping tools for stroke rehabilitation by creating a portable affirmation card and a panic book to calm anxiety with personal images.
Practice mindful attention to your body while drawing intuitively, using a continuous squiggle with your non-dominant hand to explore anxiety.
Present a concise outline of the therapies available, as part 5 of the series, to guide learners through treatment options.
Explore the economic costs and ripple effects of strokes, including income losses and reduced consumption, alongside stroke prevention, therapeutic arts, and a charity art and poetry competition by Different Strokes.
Learn how creativity can help your business through tips, tricks, and interviews, and how art therapy and stroke awareness reduce costs while benefiting others.
Explore how covid-19 reshapes the economy, businesses, and mental health, examining risks, leadership responses, and workplace changes like remote work, safety, and confidence in recovery.
Explores the tradeoffs of easing lockdowns, weighing virus spread risk, vaccine timelines, herd immunity, testing, therapeutics, and privacy against economic costs and health system capacity.
Protect your mental health at home by establishing a daily routine, practicing home-based exercise and relaxation techniques, and staying connected through calls and social media.
Plan your day to support mental health by establishing a daily routine, differentiating work and home spaces, and incorporating movement, yoga, and reflection for purpose and self-confidence.
Plan your day and add daily movement to reduce stress, boost energy, and improve sleep, even from home. Try simple desk activities to keep your routine active.
Learn practical ways to combat loneliness at home by connecting with others through letters, flowers, video chat, social media, and shared online moments.
Plan your day with reflection and self-compassion, keep a gratitude journal, and use mindfulness to stay present while addressing daily routines and emotional well-being.
Establish a daily routine with consistent bed and wake times, limit digital media, and wind down with reading to support sleep and mental health. Include natural light and gentle activity.
Plan your day to manage work stress and financial concerns by checking employment rights, government support, and budgeting. Talk with others or helplines for support.
Plan your day with controllable actions and limit news exposure to ease virus anxiety; prioritize exercise, sleep, and healthy eating while relying on trusted information.
Explore how social isolation during lockdown drives loneliness and worsens mental health. It disproportionately affects working-age adults, the elderly, those in poor health, renters, and increases domestic abuse.
Explore how job loss, furlough, and income disparities during the pandemic drive mental health challenges, including stress and debt, while highlighting volunteering and work routines as protective factors against isolation.
Explore how housing insecurity and high housing costs fuel financial stress, debt spirals, and social isolation, while housing quality and access to outdoor space shape mental health.
Explore how mental health is a national asset and how social isolation, financial loss, housing insecurity, frontline work, access to mental health services, and loss of coping mechanisms drive deterioration.
Examines how the pandemic worsened mental health drivers by lessening face-to-face contact and outdoor activity, highlighting social isolation, digital connectivity, and rising socioeconomic inequalities.
Demonstrates how social prescribing connects people and improves mental health after covid-19 by funding local partnerships and programs such as football, art therapy, singing, green spaces, and music workshops.
Explore how social isolation shapes mental health in pandemic-era education, highlighting the shift to virtual curricula, teacher assessments, and the appeals process.
Explore how art therapy techniques can improve mental health and reduce stress during covid-19, with practical exercises for everyone, even if you’re not into painting.
Art therapy unlocks inner creativity, improves emotional control, and builds confidence through nonjudgmental, focused exercises. It promotes emotional stability and stress relief by safely releasing negative emotions.
Explore art therapy's role in mental health and cognition. See how drawing and painting boost memory, reasoning, and resilience in dementia, with evidence from i remember better when i paint.
Explore how art and exercise support mental health and cognitive benefits in part 2, addressing covid-19 driven inequalities and at-risk groups while previewing art therapy activities and inclusive participation.
Explore how viewing or creating art evokes emotions, fosters mental wellbeing, and can function as therapy, while the brain's pattern-recognition engages lifelong learning.
Explore how looking at art alters brain activity, boosting blood flow by up to 10 percent and triggering pleasure in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, regardless of artist background.
Explore how art therapy and painting can support mental health, address depression, and help you understand your reactions.
Explore mental health through art therapy and painting to address depression. Reflect on your reactions in part 3 of this series.
Explore how art therapy and painting support mental health and help address depression, and examine your reactions to the creative process.
Dive into mental health through art therapy and painting as a way to process depression, acknowledge dark feelings, and shift toward hope, trust, and a fresh start.
Explore how art interpretation reveals inner emotions, and learn about the Open Gallery, submitting artwork, and the Getty Museum challenge's at-home recreations that unite communities during the pandemic.
Explore how internal nature and garden imagery bolster mental health, resilience, and empathy, linking nature to stress management, art therapy, and social prescribing for healthier economies.
Explore how nature shapes mental health through reflective imagery of ponds, gardens, and quiet spaces, using the metaphor of choices and social reconnection after lockdown to discuss feelings and well-being.
Explore how external nature and hiking boost mood, reduce stress and disease, and support the economy; examine nature's services and covid-19 impacts for mental health and economic understanding.
Explore how natural systems underpin economies and mental health, quantify nature's value for GDP and well-being, and analyze trade-offs amid COVID-19 and climate risk.
Explore how decarbonizing energy, smarter urban development, sustainable land use, smart water management, and a circular industrial economy can boost growth, create jobs, and improve mental health by protecting nature.
Explore how art therapy and creativity help reduce anxiety and depression during the covid-19 crisis, linking art to mental health, emotional expression, and resilience.
Transform pandemic fatigue into meaning by reworking biohazard labels into a dandelion collage with butterflies, linking public health, mental health, and ecology through SARS-CoV-2 imagery.
Engage in a mind mapping exercise to visualize how covid-19 affects health, economy, and workplace. Trace trade-offs, leadership, mental health, and topics like strokes, depression, anxiety, therapy, and post-covid recession.
Use mind maps to summarize covid-19 data and spark new ideas, focusing on three prevention pillars: wash hands, maintain physical distance, and examine masks with care.
Explores how masks reduce anxiety and depression by offering safety, linking mask use to art therapy, leadership, and workplace health, while examining controversy, fit, materials, and protection levels.
Explore how masks intersect business, economy, art, and health, linking anxiety relief, art therapy, and externalities to shopping, theatre, and pollution concerns.
Explore how masks affect society, including debates over effectiveness and policy, and connect mental health insights with mind maps to illuminate the science, politics, and daily implications.
Explore the UK face covering rules, including fines up to 100 pounds (50 on payment within 14 days), with exemptions for children under 11 and certain disabilities.
Explain why England changed rules to emphasize masks as a layer of protection against airborne transmission in enclosed spaces like mosques and supermarkets, alongside distancing, hand hygiene, and ventilation.
Explores public transport face coverings in England, noting exemptions for children under 11 and those who rely on lip reading, three-layer coverings, and guidance from the BBC and government.
Examine how mask-wearing varies by country using YouGov polling, from Spain 86% to the UK 36%, and discuss how messaging could shift these rates and protect others.
Discover how nonmedical face coverings reduce covid-19 spread by blocking droplets and aerosols, especially from asymptomatic individuals, when worn correctly with hand hygiene and distancing.
Examine studies of homemade masks versus surgical masks, comparing materials, fit, and filtration efficiency to balance protection with breathability.
Mask use offers partial protection and can create a false sense of security; cloth masks offer limited filtration compared with surgical masks, so maintain hand washing, distancing, and mask handling.
Examine universal mask use, PPE shortages, and hoarding during a pandemic, comparing the CDC guidance on cloth coverings with WHO recommendations on masks and N95 respirators.
Explore covid-19 transmission dynamics and the relative importance of direct versus indirect spread. Analyze mask types, fit, compliance, eye protection, and real-world effectiveness.
Explore the clash between personal liberty and covid-19 protection, showing why people resist masks, and how mask use protects others, with ethical guidance on running in crowded areas.
Explain why mask guidance evolved, balancing early warnings, compliance, effectiveness debates, and policy choices in public health and legal risk.
Assess how properly worn masks, including n95 options, reduce transmission by filtering droplets and aerosols, emphasizing fit, usage, and that protection mainly benefits others.
Assess how masks block respiratory droplets and reduce transmission through lab and real-world evidence. Showcase studies on mask mandates and cultural norms correlating lower death rates and slowed covid-19 growth.
Wear masks to reduce community transmission; high usage, about 95%, can avert thousands of deaths and protect others and hospital resources.
Discover why wearing a mask matters most even when practicing social distancing, and how the three w's—wear a mask, wash your hands, watch your distance—reduce transmission from airborne droplets.
Learn how to choose and wear face masks effectively, including materials, built-in filters, fit, and care, to protect you, your family, and others.
Encourage critical discussion on COVID-19 masks and safety policies, inviting students to research, debate, and update views with data from WHO, CDC, and UK guidance.
Explore the debates around masks and World Health Organization guidelines, noting limited evidence for universal masking and critique of a Lancet meta-analysis distinguishing hospital versus community settings.
Evaluate mask use and transmission risk: an N95 mask filters about 95% of particles and blocks droplets, but the virus may still pass; masking mainly prevents expelling droplets when coughing.
Explore how exosomes resemble viruses through surface receptors and RNA, including covid-19, and examine how toxins, stress, and disease drive exosome production and influence testing.
Analyze how two-week lockdowns, quarantine, and travel restrictions shape case numbers, from China's Hubei lockdown to UK shift from containment to delay amid an evolving pandemic.
Notice: Please do NOT enrol on this course on impulse, thinking you might watch it later. Maybe show an interest on impulse, yes, but before you enrol, watch the Preview videos, read the Course Description and then make a decision. If you then enrol then please start the course as soon as possible. Watch the lectures, look at the workbooks and join in the discussions. Joining my courses is a serious business and I want you to get the most out of your study – but I also want you to enjoy the course.
That is why I am asking that you only enrol because you really want to and that you start the course intending to make full use of all the resources.
You will be very welcome.
In 2016 I suffered a mini-stroke. Since then I have been researching possible ways to reduce the risk of me getting a stroke - either mini or full-blown. Apparently up to 90% of strokes can be prevented with lifestyle changes.
This course is the result of my own research.
I am NOT a doctor. I am NOT medically qualified. I am NOT speaking on behalf of any organisation.
These lectures are simply my thoughts as I try and spread the word about risk factors. I am also trying to raise awareness - which is why sometimes the lectures may seem to contradict. This is to encourage discussion.
I triple stress: these lectures are just my own research. I am NOT giving out medical advice.
But I am trying to encourage people to think about their own risk and to seek medical advice where needed.
What makes this course a success? If it encourages you to reduce your own risk!
What this course covers:
Fitness/exercise
Statins
Diet
Weightloss
Sleep
Intermittent fasting
Stress
Further action
The course includes a workbook:
Chapter 1 What causes TIAs?
What is a TIA?
Why it is important
What are the causes of a TIA?
How is a TIA diagnosed?
Treatment for a TIA
Symptoms of a ministroke
Reducing the risk
Medication and side effects
Chapter 2 Studies
Studies
Residual symptoms of a TIA
Role of brain imaging in TIA
TIA and common mimics
Chapter 3 Return to TIAs
TIA facts
Symptoms of a stroke
How a TIA is diagnosed
Therapy
Chapter 4 Stroke quiz
(A link to a site that has a) stroke quiz
Chapter 5 Comments
Comments about TIAs
Chapter 6 Return to risk factors
Risk factors
Chapter 7 Chameleons, panic attacks and TIAs
Could the TIA be a panic attack?
Anxiety or mini stroke
Panic attack v heart attack
Chapter 8 Food
Foods increasing stroke risk
Chapter 9 Dr Malcolm Kendrick
Very interesting extracts from his blog, about strokes
Chapter 10 Risk calculator
Links and explanations about various stroke risk calculators
In conclusion
PS
A workbook is included