Health Care

What possible similarities could there be between blood circulation problems, and a river in times of drought? Quite a few in fact!

Have you ever spent any time observing a river system during a long drought? If you have you'll have noticed the health of the river system is poor compared to times of normal rainfall. During normal conditions a river is "Alive"; the water flow is healthy; the plant life and fish within the river are healthy and active; and the birdlife that live off the river are plenty. Compare this to a river in severe drought time; water flow ceases and only small pools of water remain; water life such as fish and insects are few and less active than normal; Birds that live off the river system are fewer; water plants die and are replaced by slime, silt and algae, and the river lacks the feel of vibrant energy that it would otherwise exude.

Now what does this have to do with blood circulation problems I hear you ask? Plenty in-fact. A river system dies to an extent during drought because there is a lack of water to flow through it to clear away debris, keep the river pathways open, and supply oxygen into the system; in effect it has a blood circulation problem, but in this case the "blood" is water, which is the lifeblood of a river system.

While your body may not have a shortage of blood volume like a river in drought as such, it does suffer blood circulation problems for the same reasons, as the flow of blood in most people rarely gets fast enough to clear the debris (byproducts from your body processes and diet), keep the pathways open (in our case smaller blood vessels), and feed a healthy oxygen supply to the cells of the body.

Without regular surges of blood flow to perform these tasks, our circulatory system starts to:

1. Silt up - In our case the silt takes the form of fatty deposits or plaque on the walls of the blood vessels. This is known as PVD (Peripheral Vascular Disease) or (Peripheral Artery Disease) depending on the type of blood vessel.
2. Reduced ability to keep the pathways (small blood vessels) open. In this case blood supply to the extremities recedes gradually over time. As the smaller blood vessels close off more, the resting blood pressure increases because the same volume of blood exists within a smaller network of blood vessels. Smoking has the effect of further constricting blood vessels adding to the problem.
3. The system as a whole becomes less capable of supplying adequate oxygen supply to the cells under the stress of any infrequent short bursts of activity.

One of the main reasons blood circulation problems develop is because the majority of people are relatively inactive and so there is rarely a high demand on the blood supply system; this leads to the smaller blood vessels closing off or becoming less efficient. The body adjusts its circulatory system in response to the demands placed on it; with the demands of an inactive person being low for the majority of the time the system has no need to develop an efficient blood supply system. Add to the sedentary lifestyle the popularity of high fat, and high cholesterol eating habits that introduce more pollutants to a circulatory system which is already inefficient and unable to handle these pollutants effectively, it is no wonder that blood circulation problems and all the associated health risks are at such high levels.

Indications of blood circulation problems are:

• Cold feet or hands
• Cramping, pain, or fatigue in the legs and feet
• Tired or aching legs
• Pins and needles in the feet
• Swelling in the lower legs

The Good News

The good news about blood circulation problems is that it can be reversed and improved by doing the exact opposite to the things that caused the problem in the first place. Firstly, start doing some regular activity such as a short walk every day. At the start of every week increase the distance or amount of time that you walk, this will kick start the training response in the body and the circulatory system will slowly adjust to the new higher demand and become more efficient. After a while your walks should have increased to a point that you are receiving a good training effect and sufficient enough to begin reversing your blood circulation problems.

To further improve your poor circulation it is also important to make some dietary changes to reduce your cholesterol and fat intake. Also drink more water to help the circulatory system eliminate waste products. Add this to your walking routine and after a while you should notice some pleasant improvements to your blood circulation problems. There are also several extremely effective natural herbal supplements that can greatly improve blood circulation problems; however it is important to start getting active as a first step. Give your blood river a regular surge in flow through exercise and you'll clear out and strengthen your circulatory system and put your blood circulation problems behind you.

© 2006 Colin L Wolfenden