5 Ways To Improve Your Blood Circulation

Proper blood circulation helps in transferring nutrients and oxygen to various parts of the body. 

Lack of good blood circulation causes diseases due to harmful foreign particles entrapped in the tissue.

Here are some ways to improve your blood circulation:

1. Exercise

When you do aerobic exercise, the blood flows to all the parts of the body, and the arteries circulate. 

Exercise is part of a heart-healthy program that gets the blood pumping through the heart and through the arteries of the heart.

Exercise is known to decrease your risk of common circulatory disorders, such as heart attacks, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease.

A simple exercise like walking, which anyone can do is one of the easiest ways to increase blood circulation level. Exercising also increases blood circulation which helps the muscles and other tissues.

2. Eat low cholesterol foods

Cholesterol can cause plaque buildup in the inner lining of the arteries. 
They gradually narrow and eventually narrow so much that the flow of blood through the arteries is so sluggish that blood clots form (called thrombi).

If thrombi happen in the brain, you can get a stroke. If thrombi happen in the heart, you can get a heart attack. 

If thrombi develop in the arteries of the legs, you get a peripheral vascular disease. Low cholesterol foods don’t contribute to getting cholesterol plaques.

3. Eat soluble fiber

Soluble fiber soaks up cholesterol in the gut so that less cholesterol is absorbed by the GI tract.

Common sources of soluble fiber include:

·         Oatmeal and oat cereal

·         Blueberries

·         Psyllium

·         Oranges

·         Apples

·         Nuts

·         Strawberries

·         Beans

·         Dried peas

·         Flaxseeds

·         Carrots

·         Celery

·         Cucumbers

Soluble fiber, in particular, decreases the amount of LDL cholesterol in the bloodstream, which is the kind of cholesterol that makes arterial plaques.

4. Build strong leg muscles

Circulation is more than just about arteries. In order to keep blood flowing, you need to have your veins bring the blood back from the periphery of your body. 

Veins that aren’t supported by strong valves and strong muscles can be sluggish and the flow can stagnate in the legs.

This leads to venous dilation called varicose veins. 
You can prevent varicose veins and improve your circulation by keeping the muscles of your legs strong, avoiding standing for long periods of time, and by wearing compression stockings, especially if you don’t exercise much or if your job requires long periods of standing.

If the veins become sluggish and dilate, you can get leakage of blood from the veins so that the veins become irritated, creating a condition called superficial thrombophlebitis, a painful condition involving inflammation in veins that have poor circulation.

5. Stop smoking

Good circulation requires excellent air exchange between the de-oxygenated blood and the oxygenated blood is taken in when we breathe fresh, oxygenated air.

Smoking can do damage to the small bubble-like alveoli that are where oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange places within the lungs.

You need healthy lungs for good circulation and for good air exchange that will provide enough oxygen to tissues in the rest of the body.

Smoking also contributes to vascular disease and increases the risk of various types of heart disease.

Healthy blood circulation not only makes you healthy, it improves how you look by promoting a healthy skin color and glow.