Aspirin can help

For Stroke Awareness Month, you might want to consider this easy and cheap preventive measure: taking a baby aspirin.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch quoted Dr. Abdul Nassief, an assistant professor at Washington University and director of the clinical stroke center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, that an 81-mg aspirin, every other day, reduces stroke risk. He cautioned against taking it, though, if your blood pressure is more than 140/90.

"It's a winner," Nassief told the newspaper. "And for women over 40, a baby aspirin every other day reduces the risk of stroke by 25 percent." And it doesn't matter if it's coated or uncoated, although the coated aspirin might cause less upset.

Not being a doctor myself, I'd always check with my doctor to see if there's any other reason not to take the aspirin, especially if you're already taking a prescription medication.