Blood circulation is important to your overall health. Blood carries everything from oxygen to essential vitamins and minerals throughout the body. An improvement in blood flow helps deliver all of this, which can boost healing, boost the body’s ability to fight infection and even improve an individuals athletic performance as more oxygen allows muscles to recover faster.
There are several ways to improve blood circulation. A healthy diet will cut down on artery blocking cholesterol and increase blood flow. Exercise can also increase blood circulation as well. Not all forms of exercise are created equal though when it comes to this. By understanding how exercise improves blood circulation, you’ll learn what forms of exercise can offer the best blood flow benefits.
Strengthening Your Heart
In order to increase the strength of individual muscles, you need to not only work these muscles but challenge the muscles. In order to curl more weight you need to focus on your arms and increase weight as you grow stronger. The same is true with your heart. Your heart is a muscle and in order to grow stronger you need to challenge it. Exercise does exactly this.
As you exercise, your heart rate increases. You need more oxygen so you breathe harder. As you breathe harder it causes your heart to worker harder in order to deliver the additional oxygen to the rest of your body.
Over time, your heart will grow stronger due to working out. As your heart grows stronger it will not need to beat as often because a single pulse becomes stronger. This pushes blood through your entire body faster. However, like workout any other area of the body, in order to increase the strength of your heart you will need to continually challenge it and push it.
A Stronger Heart Improves Blood Circulation
As the heart grows stronger it can push blood through the body faster. This in turn improves blood circulation. By increasing your blood circulation you can deliver oxygen and nutrients faster.
A stronger heart also allows you to go harder for longer while exercising. Ultimately, working out strengthens your heart, which boosts blood circulation, which in return improves your ability to exercise.
You Need to Vary Your Workout Routine
In order to continue to strengthen your heart you’ll need to vary your workout. Over time, as you perform the same exercise routine your body will become accustomed to performing the specific motions.
As it grows accustomed to these motions your body will no longer need to work as hard, which means you won’t breathe as hard and your heart will not need to beat as hard either. Essentially, the quality of your workout begins to diminish and eventually you’ll no longer see any gains, including the strength of your heart and blood circulation.
It is recommended to vary your workout not only week to week but day to day. You don’t need to lift weights in order to improve your blood circulation and strengthen your heart. You can go jogging one day, ride your bike another and go for a swim the next. This keeps your workout routine different and continually challenges your heart.
Improving blood circulation in your body can help improve your health, reduce your chance of prolonged infection while also increasing athletic performance.
Exercising on a regular basis will boost your blood circulation by strengthening your heart. This alone comes with a host of other health benefits. So workout at your own pace, but do what you can and you’ll see an improvement in your overall level of health.
