Listen and learn, young people ...

A cautionary tale ... .

Young people - that is, people under 45 - can have strokes, too. In fact, it happens too often. Mine happened at age 39.

Ran across a recent story quoting an expert saying that patients under 45 years of age often miss stroke symptoms:

Neil Schwartz, M.D., Ph.D., says strokes are not uncommon in younger patients.

"We do see 10 or more percent of strokes occurring in younger patients under the age of 45," says Schwartz.

In fact, a new nationwide study found that while the incidences of stroke has dropped by nearly half over the last two decades, most of that improvement was in patients over 65 years old. Researchers believe some younger patients may not have seen the improvement because of an increase in risk factors like obesity and diabetes.

So even if you're young and active, know the stroke signs and don't be afraid to act!