The number of young people suffering strokes is "rising dramatically", according to the Stroke Association.

The charity says the average age of stroke victims has been falling in recent years and predicts the number of 45-year-olds and above being affected will increase by 59% by 2035.

Strokes are a life-threatening medical condition that occur when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off. The damage can have different effects.

Mechanical engineering student David Noblet, 28, from Nottingham, suffered a stroke exactly one year ago.

Image: David said he was shocked by the stroke because he had been fit and healthy

He told Sky News that at first he shrugged off the symptoms.


"I had a really strong headache, I remember my eye sort of closing with the pain. Thought nothing of it really, so just went to bed. Got up in the middle of the night and just went to get a drink and felt my left arm was really weak. I just thought I was tired, went back to sleep, woke up and basically I was half-paralysed," he said.

David was told by doctors he may not be able to walk again.

"You think of an old person suffering from a stroke, it was a big shock really... I was thinking has it really happened to me because I was fit and healthy before," he said.

Following intensive rehabilitation over the past year, David is now walking again and has returned to continue his studies.

Although the average age for men suffering a stroke is 74, there is research to suggest more young people are being affected.

Image: But David has started to walk again after intensive rehabilitation

Juliet Bouverie, CEO of the Stroke Association, said: "The reality is that people are having strokes earlier in their life. So that we know globally in 1990, about a quarter of all survivors were of working age.

"We are seeing the overall number of strokes and the rate in younger people increasing. So for people aged 45 and over, we've seen a dramatic rise in the rate of first-time strokes.

"Our big message is we want young people to be aware that stroke isn't just something that affects older people. It can affect people of all ages."

According to the charity, there are more than 400 childhood strokes each year in the UK - with 25% of those occurring in children aged 11 and over.

Dr Pankaj Sharma, from the charity Different Strokes, says the lifestyle of younger people may be playing a part in the number of strokes increasing.

"High blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, those kind of risk factors are well-recognised in stroke," he said.

"As the population of young individuals starts getting unhealthy, they're eating worse foods, obesity rates are undressing, diabetes is increasing in the young population, those risk factors are now shifting from the elderly population down to the younger ones and that's probably why stroke is increasing in young individuals."

Around 40,000 people died of a stroke in the UK in 2015. It is the fourth biggest killer in the UK and the biggest killer in Scotland.