How to Increase and Improve Blood Circulation

Blood flow and heart health are tied to many factors — both our lifestyle habits and food and supplement intake. Keeping your heart and circulatory system healthy is important for your overall health. Staying fit and healthy is about more than protein and pumping iron, you have to look after your whole body too. Read on for ways to take control over your heart health and improve circulation.

In this article, you’ll find:

Lifestyle Habits

1. Exercise

Cardio exercise is named after its cardiovascular benefit — it’s the most important factor in keeping your blood circulating. For healthy, well trained individuals, more intense exercise is necessary to raise your heart rate enough for cardiovascular benefits. Those who are not in optimal health or even those recovering after surgery in the hospital are encouraged to be active and move around often, even in bed, just to keep blood flowing through our bodies and to our muscles.¹

Cardiovascular exercise can be anything from walking at a brisk pace to intense cycling, running, or swimming. Even those who are unable to do much walking or weight bearing activity can get upper body circulation from things like boxing moves or upper-body cycling.

Summary: Exercise has been shown to help improve heart health and even prevent high blood pressure and high cholesterol.¹

2. Diet

A healthy diet is absolutely key to heart health and good circulation. There are several things in the diet that you can focus on to optimize blood flow:

• Avoid too much fat: too much fat, especially saturated and trans fats, can lead to damage and blockage of the arteries.² Avoid high-fat animal foods and check for trans-fat on the labels of processed foods. About 30% of the calories in your diet should come from fat, and only 10% of those should be saturated fat. It’s best to avoid trans-fat completely.² Choose mostly omega-3 fatty acids, which are the heart healthy fats found in foods like nuts and oily fish.
• Avoid too much salt: sodium is part of table salt (sodium chloride) and is also added to many highly processed foods and snacks (canned goods, frozen meals, etc.). Over time, a diet high in sodium can lead to high blood pressure.²
• Focus on enough fiber: fiber is a plant-based carbohydrate that contributes no calories because our digestive system can’t break it down. Sources of dietary fiber to focus on including in your diet are fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Diets high in fiber have the potential to improve cholesterol.² These foods are also naturally low in fat and sodium.

3. Hydration

Staying well hydrated helps to keep your circulatory system functioning at its best. When you’re dehydrated, your blood can become depleted of oxygen and not give your organs and tissues what they need to function. It’s best to drink mostly water and avoid sweetened drinks for optimal hydration.²

4. Healthy Weight

Being overweight causes more strain on your heart every time it pumps blood through your body. People who are overweight and obese are more likely to develop heart problems.² Extra body fat can also make it more difficult to exercise and reap the benefits of cardiovascular activity.

5. Tobacco Abstinence

Smoking has long been shown to be harmful to your heart and circulation. It can raise blood pressure, constrict blood vessels (making them smaller and more difficult for blood to flow through), and lead to many chronic health issues.³ Quitting smoking, or never starting, is the most important choice you can make for your blood circulation.