Tips for Promoting Cardiovascular Health, Part 3
As we’ve seen in the earlier posts on CV health, much of what we can do to promote CV health goes beyond diet, exercise and medications. The way we hold and move our bodies has a dramatic impact on whether our CV system will experience turbulent flow, wall wounding and the subsequent plaque formation that leads to CV disease. Correcting the mis-alignments that distort our blood vessel geometry goes a long way toward minimizing turbulent flow, particularly in the abdominal aorta and the carotid arteries. But what else can we do to reduce turbulent flow and the resulting damage to our CV system?
What else reduces turbulent flow?
Besides our blood vessel geometry, there are several other causes of turbulent flow that we have it in our power to correct or minimize. One is sudden changes to the size of our blood vessels. This refers to a sudden dilation of a blood vessel which results in blood squirting through the vessel in much the same way that water in a kinked hose squirts through rapidly when unkinked. The result of this sudden rush of blood through the vessel is turbulent flow.
What causes sudden a change to blood vessel size?
There are several factors which contribute to sudden change in blood vessel size. One major one is biological stress. Biological stress results when we ignore our biological needs to the point that it impacts our health. This is a distinct category of stress from what most of us are referring to when we say “I’m stressed,” although they are often related.
When the word “stress” is used in common language, usually we are referring to the pressures of modern life. Things like work, traffic, relationships and taking too many things on at once can produce a feeling we call “stressed”. Certainly this type of stress can be problematic for CV health as it tends to increase blood pressure, but biological stress is different.
Understanding Biological Stress
If I am working and perhaps on a deadline and I decide to skip a meal to get more work done even though I am hungry, then I am creating biological stress. If I decide to work very late into the night and I fail to get enough sleep so that I return to work tired the next day, then I am creating biological stress. If I need to use the bathroom but I ignore the urge because it’s inconvenient for some reason, then I am creating biological stress.
These types of stressors, while they may very well be related to the “stress” in my life are different in that they trigger the release of hormones in my body that cause my blood vessels to dilate suddenly. This sudden change in the blood vessel size causes turbulent flow. This is similar to the affect that cigarette smoking would have on my CV system if I were a smoker.
What can I do about Biological Stress?
It may seem obvious, but reducing biological stress is as easy as the not so easy solution of eating when I’m hungry, sleeping when I’m tired and using the bathroom when the urge comes. If I’ve been supresssing biological urges for a long time, it may be necessary for me to reaccustom myself to the feeling of these urges to know when an appropriate response is called for. Typically I’ll need to make responding to these urges more of a priority, relative to the activities which are impeding my response. The demands on my time and energy are important, but are they so important that I must neglect my most basic human needs?
What else can I do to reduce turbulent flow?
Besides improving blood vessel geometry and minimizing biological stress we can also reduce turbulent flow by keeping our blood sugar at healthy levels. This is because sugar in the blood causes it to be thicker and stickier and this alters the way it moves through blood vessels. This alteration in blood viscosity in turn leads to turbulent flow, wall wounding and plaque formation.
Decreasing blood sugar goes beyond diet.
How then do I keep blood sugar at healthy levels? Reducing simple sugars in the diet of course helps and is important, but we should also consider something else when addressing blood sugar – how we are moving. Movement that requires more muscles to work will also increase cellular metabolism and decrease blood sugar because the cells of active muscles require more food to do their work. Obviously we shouldn’t be eating a lot of sugar, but perhaps it’s even more important that we move more throughout our day to increase muslce use and cellular metabolism.
In conclusion, let me suggest that movement in alignment and with regular frequency is not optional for our health, cardiovascular or otherwise. Natural movement, like food, sleep and regular elimination is a biological imperative.