Hi, after I saw the news about weight training being good for you the other day I went to the gym. I know that I need to make it a habit now. Sorry I can't make the meeting on Sunday I'm going to see Kraftwerk.

Has anyone tried a Med Diet? And if so would they recommend if?

At the group I am organising speaker's from time to time Can anyone recommend anyone who would eto come along .

A group of nine members from Merseyside Life After Stroke Group went to McLaren Leeds as guests of Gary Booth who runs Chequered Flag Motorsport. It was a great day and everyone enjoyed it. We were supposed to drive the simulator but unfortunately it was broken in the morning (before we arrived so we did not break it!😂).

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the Warrington Moving On Stroke Group for their Make May Purple dinner. And, as always, I came away genuinely motivated. Groups like this do something incredibly powerful. They bring people together after one of the most frightening and life-changing events imaginable. They offer friendship, confidence, humour, shared experience, encouragement, accountability, and hope. They help people feel less alone. I don't see it as a “nice to have”. But as a real part of health, so I looked at the research this morning: Poor social contact and stroke risk A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis pulled together date from 19 studies, including more than 1.6 million people, and found that poor social relationships were associated with around a 30% higher risk of stroke. The same review also found that poor social relationships were associated with increased post-stroke mortality. Lim, M. H., et al. (2024). Poor social relationships and the risk of stroke and post-stroke mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Public Health, 24, 2287.Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11373457/ There was another earlier major meta-analysis by Valtorta and colleagues, published in Heart in 2016, which found that loneliness and social isolation were associated with a 32% increased risk of stroke. In the same analysis, poor social relationships were also associated with a 29% increased risk of coronary heart disease. Valtorta, N. K., Kanaan, M., Gilbody, S., Ronzi, S. and Hanratty, B. (2016). Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for coronary heart disease and stroke: systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal observational studies. Heart, 102(13), 1009–1016. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27091846/ There are several possible reasons for this. People who are socially connected are often more likely to stay active, eat better, attend appointments, take medication, notice changes in their health, and seek help earlier.