Good blood circulation is essential for overall health. It carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain, skin, and other vital organs. Poor circulation can lead to serious health issues like kidney disease and stroke. Regular exercise helps to keep blood flowing and supports better health.
Raise Your Heart Rate
Any type of exercise that increases heart rate improves blood circulation because as the heart muscle contracts at a higher rate, the increased volume of blood moves more rapidly through the arteries and veins of the body, boosting circulation. These are cardio activities, and they are a vital part of improving your circulation.
Daily activities such as walking or riding a bicycle strengthen and enlarge the heart muscle, improving the pumping efficiency – increased circulation does not require extreme exercise, but can be achieved through these daily exercises. Examples of aerobic exercises include cardio machines, spinning, running, swimming, walking, hiking, specific aerobics classes, or dancing.
Resistance Exercises
Surprisingly, studies have shown that resistance exercise shows a greater increase in blood flow than traditional aerobic exercises. Resistance training is a form of exercise that improves muscular strength and endurance. During a resistance training workout, you move your limbs against resistance provided by weights, gravity, bands, or dumbbells.
Circulation improves through regular resistance training, making it an important component of any workout – such as bench presses, squats, lunges, leg curls, overhead presses, and oblique twists.
Building a Healthy Body for Life
Maintaining blood circulation should be a priority for everyone as part of an overall healthy physical health and mental health lifestyle. Regardless of age or physical abilities, exercise promotes circulation and that has positive beneficial effects. Improving and maintaining blood circulation builds a strong heart muscle and also improves the efficiency of your body, ensuring that we receive oxygen and other vital nutrients. (Source: livestrong.com)
Yes, I have definitely been getting a lot more exercise in my new place, plus the stress level is about 10% of what it was before so that's a big plus.
I seem to have developed high blood pressure recently, so it's even more important I work on staying healthy as much as I can. It may have something to do with my sleep apnea which I have a machine for, but have such a difficult time using it.
The other critical factor is not being aware of the family medical history like my brother ending up with prostate cancer, as our uncle and cousin had it.
It looks like I will have to do my homework to find out this information, to try to avoid any further surprises.
Reading this blog reminds me of what I need to do to improve my health, as you're determined to transform my saggy belly into bricks.
I don't know how you found your way to me, but I appreciate it.
Awww thanks Tim. How I found my way to you doesn't matter, what matters is you're here. From memory we found each other. Yes, we all need a gentle reminder once in a while of what we know we should be doing.
The biggest thing is the support and love we can give to one another, helping one another through the journey, I call life.
Thanks Randy. A very big plus. It's lovely to hear moving has reduced your stress levels. Yes, us reacting to stress in unhealthy ways can increase our risk of high blood pressure.
Walking into a good lifestyle, reducing anxiety is massively important if we are to avoid a heart attack or stroke, through high blood pressure.
I know how you feel Tim. I have a chronic bad back and after a really bad episode a couple of months ago I've started exercising every day and while I'm not quite Mr Universe, I have noticed a big difference in my core strength.
This blog has reminded me that I need to work on my aerobic fitness too.
Thanks. I wish I could do more, but given my problems with cerebral palsy I do what I can. You're right, my blog serves as a reminder. Yes, we must continue to work on our lifestyles and include exercise.
If we did, mental health issues and obesity problems would lessen and people would be happier in themselves. Even as a gentle reminder we must continue to take exercise on board.