Stroke is a major cause of death and disability in the United States, and while most people are aware of risk factors like high blood pressure, smoking, and high cholesterol, stress is another important factor that often goes unnoticed.
According to Dr. Curtis Benesch, Medical Director at UR Medicine’s Comprehensive Stroke Center, stress is clearly linked to a higher risk of stroke—especially when it’s chronic.
Dr. Benesch explains that stress doesn’t cause stroke directly, but it can lead to conditions that do. For example, long-term stress can raise your blood pressure, worsen sleep, and lead to unhealthy habits like smoking, drinking, poor diet, or skipping medications.
All of these increase your risk of stroke.
Over time, stress can also cause inflammation in the body and lead to hardened arteries, which is a major contributor to ischemic strokes—the most common type.
When you’re under stress, your body releases hormones like adrenaline and cortisol.
These are helpful in small doses, especially in emergencies, but when they stay high for too long, they can damage your blood vessels, raise blood sugar levels, and even increase the chances of blood clots forming.
All of these changes make it more likely that a stroke will happen.
Extreme, sudden stress—like experiencing a car accident or natural disaster—can also increase the risk of a different kind of stroke: a hemorrhagic stroke, which involves bleeding in the brain. This is more likely if someone already has very high blood pressure or weak blood vessels.
Some people are more affected by stress than others. Those living in difficult situations—such as financial hardship, unsafe housing, or poor access to healthcare—often experience more daily stress, which builds up over time.
These ongoing pressures can worsen overall health and make stroke more likely.
Stress also makes it harder to maintain healthy habits. It can lead to poor sleep, unhealthy eating, skipping doctor visits, or ignoring medications. All of this creates a cycle where stroke risk increases even more.
While stress isn’t officially listed as a direct stroke risk factor in medical guidelines, it clearly plays a role in overall health. Managing stress—through exercise, hobbies, mindfulness, or professional support—can help protect your heart and brain.
It’s also important to recognize the warning signs of a stroke. Remember the acronym FAST: face drooping, arm weakness, speech difficulty, and time to call 911.
Quick action can save lives and reduce long-term damage. So while you can’t avoid stress completely, taking small steps to manage it can make a big difference in preventing stroke.
If you care about stroke, please read studies about how to eat to prevent stroke, and diets high in flavonoids could help reduce stroke risk.
For more health information, please see recent studies about how Mediterranean diet could protect your brain health, and wild blueberries can benefit your heart and brain.
Source: University of Rochester.
