Happy Sunday! 🙌Hope you’ve had a great week and made progress reducing your stroke risk. This week’s format is the same: 3 simple ways to reduce stroke risk. 👉 Pick ONE of the 3 to focus on this week, start tomorrow (Monday), and post in the group what you’re choosing — accountability = power 1) 🏃‍♂️ ACTIVE CHALLENGE: Add cardio (just a little more) Cardio fitness is one of the strongest predictors of long-term brain and heart health. ✅ This week: Do a bit more cardio exercise than your norm. If your normal exercise is very little it could just be going out for a couple of 20 minutes walks. If your very fit it could be 4 high intensity sessions. Tailor to suit your current level. Examples: - brisk walk (fast enough to raise breathing) - jogging / cycling / swimming - treadmill incline walk - skipping / rowing - Goal: get mildly out of breath (but still able to speak in short sentences). 2) 🥕 DIET CHALLENGE: Crudités before meals This is a brilliant “hack” that helps blood sugar control and appetite without dieting misery. ✅ This week:Eat a bowl of crudités (chopped up veggies) BEFORE one main meal per day (lunch or dinner) Options: - carrots, cucumber, peppers, celery, cherry tomatoes - add hummus / tzatziki / cottage cheese if you want Why it works: fibre before meals makes you feel fuller and also slows glucose absorbtion giving you better blood sugar control. 3) 🩺 MEDICAL CHALLENGE: Check your numbers Most people don’t realise their cholesterol or blood sugar has drifted until it causes damage. ✅ This week:Check when you last had: - Cholesterol (including LDL / non-HDL) - HbA1c (average blood sugar) - Then ask yourself: - Was it within target? - Has it been more than 12 months, 3 months if it was high or you changed your treatment? - Do I actually know my numbers? - If you’re unsure: book a blood test / GP review. See the info in the classroom for more info on your blood targets or just ask me. 🔥 Your mission this week...

Hello everyone , Our new challenge starts tomorrow! You don’t need to change everything at once. Pick one simple habit to focus on. At the end of the week, take a moment to reflect on how it went and how it felt. Even tiny progress is worth celebrating ! If you feel comfortable, please feel free to share which habit you chose, how you planned to stick with it, and how it went by the end of the week . Your story might inspire someone else to take a small step too ! This week’s options: 💓 Know your numbers: Check your blood pressure on 5 days this week and calculate your average. Seeing your numbers can help you spot patterns and keep your heart and brain healthy. 🚶 Move after meals: Take a 5–10 minute walk after a meal each day. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner, whatever works best for you. Even a short walk helps your blood sugar, circulation, and mood. 🥦 Eat more vegetables: Add an extra portion of vegetables at your meals. Fresh, pre-chopped, or frozen all count, any way that works for you is great. Reflection: How did it feel to practise this habit this week? What worked well, and what was challenging?

I hope 2026 is treating you all well so far. This year, we’re changing how we share our stroke-prevention tips. Instead of one tip every other day, we’ll now be sharing three simple, practical ways to reduce your stroke risk every Sunday. Each week, we encourage you to pick just one of the three to focus on, and commit to starting it first thing on Monday morning. The real power here is in supporting each other. Let the group know: ✔️Which change you’re choosing ✔️How you’re planning to make it stick Then, as the week goes on, keep us posted on how you’re getting on. At the weekend, take a moment to reflect on what you’ve learned — what worked, what didn’t, and what you’d tweak next time. With consistent effort and each other’s support, we can embed healthier habits week by week. And over 52 weeks, those small changes can add up to a huge impact on our long-term health.

Hi everyone. I count that we've done 43 stroke prevention tips, pretty much every order day. We're going to pause the tips temporarily for a few weeks until the new year. Partly to free up time for Christmas and partly because I'm struggling to come up with more ideas! However, I will use that time to write some more stuff in the classroom section. We'll also still have our prevention catch up (next one on Sunday) and I hope we'll keep up our chats in the group too.

Chronic stress is a major cause of stroke and is one of the 10 factors identified by the INTERSTROKE study that cause 90% of strokes. However, most people have no way to catch rising stress. We usually spot it when it's too late. So today's tip: Once a day ask yourself: “Am I reacting more than I’m responding?” If yes → use 30 seconds of slow breathing or a short walk. It’s a simple cue that interrupts stress-driven cortisol surges. Then use the headspace you've bought to do something constructive that will meaningfully reduce your stress going forward. Tackle the underlying cause of your stress.