The circulation of blood throughout your body affects every cell within it. When blood travels through your system, it delivers vital elements like oxygen and nutrients to all of your body’s systems and organs.
The two central blood circulatory systems found within your body are the pulmonary and the systemic circulation systems. Each one goes through a cycle of bringing these vital components to fuel your body’s cells and removing waste from them. Both methods start from the heart.
Since it is an essential body function, it is imperative that you understand the role of circulation in your health. Poor blood circulation can affect crucial organs such as the kidneys, heart, and the brain.
Why is Circulation Important To Your Health?
Blood circulation is one of the most crucial functions within your body. To put it plainly, it is what makes your body work properly. Circulation can also help cells to grow and promotes healthy skin.
If you have poor circulation, there could be many factors that cause it, such as lack of exercise, too much lethargy, and smoking. The problem with poor circulation is that it can create blood clots, which in some cases, are fatal.
What are Signs of Poor Circulation?
Your extremities (hands, fingers, feet, toes) are the furthest parts of the body so they will feel the effects of poor circulation first. Other parts of the body, such as the arms and legs, could also feel the effects. There are some telltale symptoms that indicate you have poor circulation, which include:
- Swelling – swelling is most common in the legs and feet. If you’re sitting for long periods or are on your feet all day, you may notice that your feet start to swell.
- Tingling or Numbness – you may also notice that your extremities feel numb or have a tingling sensation, which is another indication of poor circulation. The blood flow is reduced in these areas, and it can be dangerous sometimes, leading to gangrene, which is the death of the tissue and requires amputation.
- Temperature swings – maybe your hands and feet are constantly feeling cold? If so, this is a sign of poor circulation since the blood flow would bring warmth.
- Skin discoloring – if you are pale, or parts of your body turn blue or look ashy, this is a symptom that you are suffering from poor circulation.
If you are concerned that you suffer from these ailments, it will help to consult with a doctor for a proper diagnosis. For example, you could have a vein deficiency or suffer from artery disease.
How Can I Improve My Circulation?
There are proven ways to improve your blood circulation throughout the body. Mainly, it would be best if you consistently were working towards maintaining good health. Some things that you can do to work on your circulation include:
- Exercise Regularly – Exercise is well-known for improving your health as well as circulation. Cardio, in particular, focuses on the heart, so this is an excellent exercise to do, but don’t neglect strength training or lifting because that type of exercise helps, too.
There are plenty of ways to get cardio exercise within your days, such as walking, running, biking, and swimming. You can also do yoga as a low-impact way to help improve your circulation.
- Stay Hydrated – blood is 50 percent water, so water will help keep your blow flow working well. It would help maintain around four to six cups per day to stay healthy. If it’s hot outside or you’ve been working out, you can drink some more.
Water helps to keep everything functional within the body, and besides helping with your circulation, it helps with digestion, flushing out bacteria, and protecting vital organs.
- Prevent Hypertension – Your blood pressure plays an essential role in your circulation, so you should watch it and ensure that you don’t have high blood pressure. Keep up with your yearly doctor appointments, and watch out for symptoms like nosebleeds, vision problems, and chest pain, which are all indicators of hypertension.
- Don’t Smoke – You are most likely already aware of the multiple dangers of smoking. Even smokeless tobacco products can thicken your blood and damage arteries, which will reduce your blood flow and prevents your blood from circulating well.
It can be challenging to quit smoking, but there are plenty of resources to help you, and millions of people have done it successfully. Talk to your doctor or go online and research how you can quit smoking ASAP.
- Compression garments – There are many types of compression garments that focus on helping to improve circulation, such as compression socks for nurses on their feet. You can get compression gloves or sleeves on the arms or legs. Compression garments work to compress muscles that prevent blood from clotting in one area and increase oxygen throughout the muscles.
- Lose Extra Weight – poor circulation is linked to obesity because when you carry around extra weight, it puts more strain on your heart to pump blood throughout your body. Maintaining a healthy weight will be much better for your circulation.
Keep The Blood Flowing
Your body is a complex machine and needs to be taken care of as best as you are able. You are less tired and achy when you can supply your body with more oxygen flow due to good circulation. As a result, your body temperature is stabilized, and you just feel good.
Other methods you can take on to help with your circulation include getting a massage or adding beets to your diet since the beets act to help widen blood vessels which increase your blood flow. Other good foods you can add are chia seeds, spinach, avocado, and coconut oil. It would help if you also worked to reduce stressors in your life since chronic stress is attributed to high blood pressure. Take care of your body and keep your blood flowing!