Myocardial infarction, cerebral infarction... Other cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are common and terrible health killers for the elderly. Among the elderly over 60 years old in China, more than 80% suffer from different degrees of "arteriosclerosis", so a variety of "softening blood vessels", "cleaning blood vessels" small tricks, and even health care products spread around, are talked about.
For example, a glass of red wine every day, drink some vinegar every day, eat some fungus, black beans, onions, etc. every day, so that many elderly people are convinced, especially red wine, vinegar, eager to be more important than eating, a cup a day can not be less.
So the question is, can these little tricks really soften blood vessels? What exactly is arteriosclerosis?
Arteriosclerosis is widespread, but these factors speed up arteriosclerosis!
Arteriosclerosis is an important indicator of blood vessel health, called "atherosclerosis" in technical terms, is a non-inflammatory, irreversible pathological change of the artery, which can only be delayed, not reversed.
In general, normal blood vessels are very elastic, the inner wall is also very soft, with the increasing use of time, blood vessels are like water pipes, the tube will accumulate dirt, shrink the amount of water, slowly hinder the water supply.
The "dirt" in the blood vessels refers to cholesterol, triglycerides, especially low-density lipoproteins, such substances slowly increase in the blood vessels, which will make the arteries slowly thicker and harder, the elasticity is reduced, the lumen becomes narrower, forming a block of atherosclerotic plaques, resulting in poor blood circulation, continuing to deteriorate and even blockage, once there are precipitating factors, such as a part of the arterial plaque rupture, it will induce a series of changes, the formation of blood clots, causing cerebral infarction and other diseases.
So, arteriosclerosis is a vascular disease that gradually appears with age, almost everyone has it, but to varying degrees. Some studies have pointed out that from the age of 14, blood vessels begin to age slowly, and the aging death of the human body is largely related to the continuous aging or blockage of blood vessels.
In addition to age factors, most cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are related to "atherosclerosis", and diabetics, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, obesity, smoking, alcoholism, endocrine disorders, stress, mental stimulation, poor diet and living habits, insufficient exercise and genetics are more likely to develop "atherosclerosis", especially in groups over 40 years old.
Red wine and vinegar can not soften the blood vessels, these methods, all do not work!
It is rumored that red wine can soften blood vessels because it contains resveratrol, which is a polyphenolic compound. After in-depth research, many scientists have found that resveratrol has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and cardiovascular protection effects. But in fact, these so-called antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and even cardiovascular protection effects are discovered by scientists in animal experiments. It is effective in cell and animal experiments in vitro, and does not necessarily mean that it is effective in humans.
The resveratrol content in red wine is very low, usually only 0.5-10mg/L, a glass of red wine a day is not helpful at all, and a number of studies have confirmed that alcohol and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, cancer and other diseases are directly related, no matter how much alcohol intake, it is harmful to the human body, as for softening blood vessels, it is nonsense.
In addition to red wine, there are these methods, all of which do not work!
1. Drink vinegar
Generally speaking, people call softening blood vessels, mainly refers to softening the hardening plaque of the arteries, and the hardened arterial plaque is mainly composed of calcium and fat.
Vinegar can indeed play a role in dissolving calcium, but the vinegar drunk into the stomach cannot reach the blood vessels directly, and it is difficult to directly change the pH of the blood.
The human body itself carries a large number of acidic body fluids such as gastric acid, etc., and the acidity of vinegar is far less than that of stomach acid, so it will not make the blood become acidic and dissolve arterial plaques because of drinking vinegar.
Not only that, drink vinegar directly, the acidity of vinegar is too large, it will also damage the gastric mucosa, and excessive consumption will burn the esophagus.
2, eat onions, shiitake mushrooms...
Eat more onions, fungus, eggplant, ginger, garlic, tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms, hawthorn, etc., these foods are plant foods, in line with the principle of healthy diet, but whether there is a softening effect on blood vessels, there is no scientific basis at present.
3. Eat deep-sea fish oil
The content of polyunsaturated fatty acids in deep-sea fish oil is indeed higher than that of freshwater fish, and polyunsaturated fatty acids do have a certain hypolipidemic effect, but it cannot directly act on blood vessels to soften blood vessels.
In addition, the fish oil products we generally buy belong to health food, which is difficult to play a role in health care vessels, and the quality of fish oil on the market is uneven, and it is not recommended that you buy and eat at will.
4. Health care institutions, divine medicine, divine services
If there is no harm as a placebo, it is enough, and I am most afraid that these drugs and services will hurt the body, then it will be more than worth the loss.
6 Ways to Soften Blood Vessels and Really Benefit!
"Softening blood vessels" is actually more accurate to "delay the arteriosclerosis process", we use some scientific methods to delay the aging and hardening of blood vessels.
What are the ways to make blood vessels age and harden a little slower? 6 methods to really benefit blood vessels are recommended:
1. Adjust the diet structure and maintain healthy eating habits
Blood lipids are the main cause of arteriosclerosis, we should maintain good eating habits as much as possible, improve the diet structure, effectively control blood lipids, can delay the arteriosclerosis process.
Low-fat, low-salt, low-cholesterol diet, eat more grains, vegetables and fruits and other foods rich in vitamins and fiber, eat less sugar and staple foods, eat less meat, especially red meat, eat less pickled and chemically processed foods, barbecue and fried foods.
2. Exercise appropriately and control the body
Arteriosclerosis prefers people with large bellies and obese abdomen, and such people have a relatively higher time and speed of arteriosclerosis than others.
Regular exercise can promote blood circulation and increase vascular elasticity, such as in-situ treading, jogging, soft gymnastics, etc.
3. Actively control risk factors, regularly check and actively treat "high-index" people
Hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and hyperuric acid are all high risk factors for arteriosclerosis, and these indicators are too high, which are often the most important factors leading to increased risk of arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.
If you already have the above diseases, you should control them to the desired level as much as possible.
4. Abandon bad living habits, quit smoking and alcohol from now on
Long-term staying up late, ingesting nicotine, alcohol is not only the main risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, but also the "culprit" of many other diseases, studies have shown that people who have quit smoking for more than 4 years have a cardiovascular disease risk, which is 54% lower than that of people who continue to smoke.
5. Maintain an optimistic attitude and learn to relax
People with high stress and often emotional mood are also at high risk of arteriosclerosis. Long-term mental tension and anxiety will inevitably cause sympathetic excitement, vasoconstriction and spasm, and vascular pressure will also increase, resulting in vascular endothelial damage, lipid deposition and arteriosclerosis.
6. Regular inspection
In particular, middle-aged people over 40 years old can initially determine whether there is coronary heart disease, diabetes, etc. by measuring blood pressure, measuring blood lipids, blood cholesterol, blood viscosity, blood glucose, and doing electrocardiogram, chest X-ray and fundoscopy, so as to understand whether their blood vessels are healthy.
Can "clenching your fist" test your blood vessel health? Scientifically measure vascular health by doing so!
There is also a "30-second fist clenching self-examination vascular health" method circulating on the Internet, which is to hold the hand tightly for 30 seconds, open the palm and observe the speed of the palm from white to red. The method believes that if the recovery speed takes more than 20 seconds, it is necessary to be careful whether there is arteriosclerosis.
In fact, shaking a fist to see the blood vessels, at best, is to see whether the blood vessels near the hand are unobstructed, and the whole body is full of blood vessels, and it is inaccurate to test itself only by shaking the fist, and there is no diagnostic significance.
If you want to know if you have hardened your arteries, you still need to go to the hospital for further examination:
1. Blood lipid examination
Dyslipidemia is an important risk factor for atherosclerosis, particularly LDL. Patients with arteriosclerosis often appear: elevated triglycerides (TG), cholesterol (TC), decreased high-density lipoprotein (HDL), a formula developed by the international medical community to measure the degree of atherosclerosis:
Arteriosclerosis Index (AI) = [ Total Blood Cholesterol (TC) - High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C)] ÷ HDL-C
AI <4 reflects that the degree of arteriosclerosis is not serious or decreasing, and the more the value, the lighter the degree of arteriosclerosis, and the lower the risk of causing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
AI ≥ 4, indicating that arteriosclerosis has occurred. The higher the value, the heavier the degree of arteriosclerosis, and the higher the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease.
2. X-ray check
The aorta may be seen elongating, dilating, twisting, and sometimes calcium sedimentation.
3. Arterial angiography
It can be seen that the arteries of the limbs, kidney arteries, coronary arteries and other blood vessels due to atherosclerosis caused by narrowing, lesion site and range.
4. Doppler ultrasonography
It can be judged whether the blood flow of the arteries of the limbs and kidneys is unobstructed.
Once the detection of arteriosclerosis, everyone should not be surprised, not all arteriosclerosis needs to be treated, the vast majority of which is the normal physiological degenerative change process of the human body, whether drug treatment is needed, but also depends on the specific situation, the key is to see the degree of narrowing and blockage.
If arteriosclerosis has developed and treatment is needed, a treatment plan can be developed under the guidance of a doctor