Maintaining optimal health requires proper circulation, a.k.a. blood flow. It ensures that blood and oxygen circulate smoothly throughout the body, allowing all of the body's organs to operate effectively. It helps you heal wounds, keep your mind sharp, maintain your heart health, and even gives your skin a natural flush.
2. What Causes Poor Blood Flow
Poor blood flow is often caused by poor or overly convenient lifestyle choices that cause your circulation to slow down. Here are some easy adjustments you can make to help your muscles, organs, and brain receive essential oxygen and nutrients:
While most people are aware that smoking is harmful to their health, few are aware of how. When it comes to circulation, blood transports oxygen to our important organs, allowing us to operate. These oxygen-carrying cells are destroyed by carbon monoxide, which is produced by smoking. Our heart, lungs, and other organs begin to fail as a result. Smoking-related circulatory disease, rather than lung cancer, kills more smokers, and the harm begins with the first cigarette. So, if you smoke, attempt to quit. Don't start smoking if you don't already. Also, keep your distance from secondhand smoke.
When it comes to eating well, you're probably more concerned with weight than with circulation. However, in addition to weight gain, eating too much fatty, processed, salty, and/or inflammatory food can raise blood pressure and cause heart disease. Having an unhealthy diet high in inflammatory foods will reduce blood blow.
Many of our jobs require hours at a desk, sitting in traffic, etc. As far as blood flow goes, this is not ideal. Over time, sedentary lifestyles can result in deep vein thrombosis developing when veins expand due to a lack of activity deep within the body. A potentially life-threatening pulmonary embolism can occur when clots are dislodged or torn away. We can avoid these types of consequences by taking preventative actions such as regularly stretching. Moving our bodies has so many health benefits and increasing our circulation is just one.
Diabetes and excessive blood pressure are two primary threats to a healthy circulatory system and proper blood flow. They're known as "silent killers" since their symptoms appear suddenly and can lead to heart disease and blood vessel damage, both of which are harmful to your blood circulation.
Put your wardrobe to good use. Compression socks squeeze your legs slightly, ensuring that your blood doesn't sit around for too long. Instead, it will return to your heart. Consult your doctor to determine the appropriate length and amount of pressure for you.
A massage may not only help you relax and unwind from the worries of everyday life, but it can also help your body's blood flow. Massages, like walking and exercise, serve to maintain good circulation by moving blood and lymph fluid through your limbs. Regular massages can also help you sleep better by reducing stress, improving flexibility and immunological function, and reducing pain. Messages, in particular, aid in the passage of lymph fluid via lymph veins, which improves the immune system's effectiveness.
Exercise improves circulation by increasing blood flow, causing the heart to circulate blood around the body more quickly, and aiding in the flushing of blood through the arteries. Aerobic exercise — the sort that puts you somewhat out of breath – is the greatest way to enhance circulation. This includes activities such as running, swimming, cycling, dancing, rowing, boxing, team sports, aerobic or cardio courses, or brisk walking for 30 minutes every day.
Poor blood flow can also be caused by:
Being able to identify blood flow issues is important. Typically, bad circulation affects the hands, arms, legs, and feet, the symptoms of poor blood flow include:
Written by Kiana St. Onge
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