Do you know the top five warning signs of a stroke? If you don't, you're not alone — less than half of all Americans can recognize these signs.

With stroke the number three killer in America after heart disease and cancer, you would do well to know them. Some 780,000 people in the U.S. will have strokes this year, according to the Center for Disease Control. Strokes will kill 150,000 people and leave 15 percent to 30 percent of survivors permanently disabled.

Stroke warning signs:
1. sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side;
2. sudden confusion or difficulty speaking;
3. sudden trouble walking, dizziness or loss of balance;
4. sudden trouble with vision in one eye or both;
5. and severe headache with no known cause.

A stroke is most commonly related to atherosclerosis — a thickening, narrowing and hardening of the arteries supplying the brain with oxygen. Most strokes are directly related to high blood pressure.

Stroke is a lifestyle disease. A lifestyle disease means that a person's lifestyle largely determines the risk of developing a particular disease. Studies have convincingly shown that a rich diet, sedentary living, drinking alcohol and smoking, excess weight and elevated blood pressure largely determine a person's risk for developing "lifestyle" diseases. These include heart disease, stroke, adult diabetes, liver cirrhosis and cancers of the lung, breast, colon and prostrate.

After cancer and AIDS, stroke is probably the most dreaded and disabling disease afflicting Westernized civilizations. Fatal strokes can occur without warning. Around one-fourth of victims under age 70 die from the first attack; after that the figure doubles.

Most strokes can be prevented. The CHIP program shows you how. And living the CHIP lifestyle definitely reduces your risk of developing this crippling disease.

Caution:

This information is not intended to replace medical advice or treatment from personal physicians. Questions about symtoms and medications, general or specific, should be addressed to personal health care providers. Those readers taking prescription medications should consult with their physicians and not take themselves off these drugs without medical supervision.