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Stroke is something familiar to most and normally it would come in latter stage of life. However that fact may be up for debate now with recent studies seeing a sharp rise in stroke-related incidents particularly in young teens.

There are a lot of factors likely tied up to it like lifestyle preferences or being overweight. Physical inactivity, high blood pressure and cholesterol are other potential reasons though there are ways to remedy that.

The problem is that the whole issue is rising at an alarming rate, affecting younger adults and even children.

"We have kids that are 10 years old that already have high blood pressure," said Marci Wilson, Seton Hospital Stroke Outreach Coordinator. "If you're starting to see this in this young group of children, you can imagine 10, 15, 20 years from now."

But how does one spot stroke before it eventually happens? How does one know that he or she is having one? Here are some signs you may want to take note of:

• Face numbness
• Arm weakness
• Speech difficulty

Bear in mind that these can happen at any time. In fact, they may already be occurring at times when people think of them as merely something common in their daily lives. If unsure, it would be best to drop by the hospital or touch base with a doctor to make sure.

"There's a three-hour window, from the time a stroke starts to three hours, when you'll get the best recovery," said Wilson on the matter. "Strokes are 82 percent preventable."

According to the American Heart Association, stroke hospitalizations have considerable dropped though younger people (particularly the African-Americans) comprise the remaining percentage of individuals being hit by the illness.

“Overall, the hospitalization rate is down, with the greatest drop in people aged 65 and older. We can’t say from this study design what factors have led to this decline, but it may be that preventive efforts, such as better blood pressure and blood sugar control, are having the effect that we want in this age group,” said Dr. Lucas Ramirez, a neurology resident at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.

Up to 43.8 percent of people aged 25 to 44 and 4.7% for the ones aged 45 to 64 overshadowed the drop in older folks between 2000 and 2010. People aged 65 to 84 rendered a stroke hospitalization rate of 28% while the ones aged 85 and older was at 22.1%.

With these findings, Ramirez believes that ramping up awareness and education on stroke prevention could be a good measure to avoid such.