A stroke is caused when there is a sudden obstruction to the blood flow into the brain. The neurons reproduce constantly inside the brain and when there is no oxygen supply they stop reproducing. This directly leads to brain damage also known as stroke. The brain does have some minimal ability to compensate the damage for such sudden changes. However, a stroke should be treated as an emergency because it can kill the neurons at an alarming rate.

One of the main reasons for a stroke is that the brain is starved for oxygen. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders says that when blood flow stops to the brain, the neurons start dying at an alarming rate. Blood flow is extremely essential for the brain because it carries oxygen and the nutrients required to the brain cells. The brain function based on this supply of nutrients. When the blood flow is obstructed, the neurons use up the oxygen within 5 minutes and start dying when they do not find any more of it.

One of the most common kinds of killer stroke is the ischemic stroke, says the Mayo Clinic. Nearly eighty percent of the strokes occurring in the United States are ischemic. It is caused because when the arteries are blocked and the brain does not receive blood, and this leads to a loss in blood flow. Arteries are blocked when cholesterol collects in them and creates blockades. Another condition called arthrosclerosis leads to the narrowing of arteries and increases the number of blood clots in the arteries. Sometimes they can completely block the arteries. An ischemic stroke is also caused by embolism in which some other part of the body breaks off into the blood vessels. It causes the clogging of cerebral artery.

Some strokes can also result in bleeding in the brain which is called hemorrhage. Medline Plus says that these kinds of strokes kill the neurons and cause the blood to build up in the nervous system. The neurons burst under the pressure and lead to neural damage.

The Mayo Clinic says that there are 2 kinds of hemorrhagic strokes and intra-cerebral stroke is caused when the blood vessels burst inside the brain. A chronic high blood pressure is most common cause of an intra-cerebral stroke. The other kind known as the subarachnoid strokes is caused due to the rupture in the artery on the surface of the brain. This kind of brain damage is caused due to aneurysms, which mean that the walls of the blood vessels have ballooned or thinned out. The subarachnoid hemorrhages fill the spaces in the brain and skull and lead to spasmodic headaches.

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