Blood Viscosity - What is it and why does it matter?
I recently had my biometric exam and had a slightly odd exchange with the nurse practitioner. As soon as she started drawing my blood, she exclaimed (yes, that’s the right word for it), “Wow, your blood is great! It’s like juice!” I glanced at her, startled. blinkblink “Um…thank you?”
Afterward, I kept thinking about it. That’s the first time anyone has ever mentioned the texture of my blood. What did it mean? Hmmm. I guess if it’s thick, it probably doesn’t flow as well, but what else?
So I got curious and started researching…being the health geek that I am now.
Blood viscosity is the thickness and stickiness of your blood. Think of it this way. Is it thin like juice or thick like syrup or, worse yet, molasses? This is important, because it’s a direct indicator of the speed and ease with which it can flow through your veins. It determines how much friction the blood causes against the veins, how hard your heart has to work to pump the blood, and how much oxygen is delivered to tissues and organs throughout your body!
Let’s go back to the point about friction. Thick, sticky blood doesn’t slide as smoothly which causes damage to the delicate linings of your blood vessels. What happens when you scrape your skin? A scab forms. That’s what happens inside your blood vessels and constant scabbing can build up, increasing turbulence as your syrupy blood is trying to flow through a no-longer-smooth vessel and an ever-narrowing channel.
Hmmm…what does this sound like? Cardiovascular difficulties, to say the least. The decreased oxygen delivery also affects cognition, and it’s associated with a whole host of common chronic conditions.
What can you do to naturally thin your blood?
Believe it or not, donating blood regularly helps you almost as much as it helps the recipients of your bag of life juice. This is because your body has to replace the lost blood and it does so with nice, new, fresh (and thin) blood.
Eat more wild-caught fatty fish at the lower end of the food chain. Think SMASH - salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, and herring. If that’s not an option for you, talk with your health practitioner about finding a good quality fish oil supplement. Don’t buy the cheap stuff at the drug store!
Get your blood sugar under control. High blood sugar causes stickiness. Think of it as shards of glass bouncing around in your blood vessels. Who wants THAT?!?!
Get off the couch! Movement is vital. You don’t have to run miles every day or spend hours at the gym, but find ways to move. You can find free 10-minute high-intensity interval training (HITT) workouts on youTube.
Drink pure, clean water - at least half your body weight in ounces every day. That’s 100 oz for a 200 lb person.
Work with a health practitioner to see if additional options are best for you.
OK, so after all that, I’m super pumped that my blood is like juice! Let’s get you there, too.
Photo by Ash Edmonds on Unsplash