Just as water stagnates when it stops flowing, your blood which is mostly made out of water starts to decompose when it stops flowing. When the circulation in your tissues (flesh and muscle) significantly slows you have problems because the tissues have a diminished function and are not as good at repairing themselves.
Heart attacks and strokes are about as scary (and common) as circulatory problems get. If you know someone well who has suffered a stroke or a heart attack you may have noticed that even if the incident was relatively minor it really shakes people up and affects their confidence, it can really make people question their own sense of self identity and worth and make them suddenly feel very old.
One can adopt a fatalistic attitude about if your time is up there is nothing you can do about it so you may as well die doing something that you love, the only flaw in this logic is if a heart attack or a stroke does not kill you it may leave you feeling like you wish it had because there is a good chance that you will never be the same again afterwards.
Taking a bigger interest in your health is no guarantee that you won’t meet such a fate, you might be unlucky enough to have poor circulatory DNA but all that any of us can do is to minimise the risks, you wouldn’t knowingly drive on bald tyres now would you?
Heart attack and stroke rate amongst the top four killers of Australians each year, (cancer and medical malpractise make up the other two) but at the other end of circulatory disease spectrum are less life threatening but still concerning problems like how you look for instance.
A persons’ skin usually shows the effect of years of sun baking, smoking and eating fatty food but even if you don’t do any of these things if your circulation isn’t good because you don’t exercise regularly (for instance) you may not have a very good colour or lustre about your skin. The whole cosmetic industry is about how your skin looks and all the cosmetic products under the sun are a poor substitute for good circulation in the blood vessels just under your skin.
Your eye sight is very much subject to your circulatory health too, glaucoma, the number one cause of blindness in this country is most often caused by by capillary damage in your retina. Having diabetes is the number one reason why people get glaucoma, and it is not the only circulatory problem that diabetics get, capillary damage can give you diabetic ulcers on your extremities and can even cause impotence in men.
Even though diabetes is an endocrine disorder it can have big circulatory consequences, with diabetes growing faster than all other diseases more and more people will be forced into taking greater care in their circulation as well as their diet.
Your circulation really is a big deal and effects your whole body, it is yet another reason why we must exercise, eat and hydrate well and pay close attention to our posture.