Or to be more accurate, the importance of healthy blood flow.

A flowing river is clean, clear and free of debris – it even looks healthy! Unlike a stagnant pool, puddle or pond where there is no ‘flow’. It looks riddled with filth and smells polluted and foul.

It’s a similar scenario to our blood flow.

Blood flow is affected by saturated fats, stress and a sedentary lifestyle such as sitting at a desk or driving for too long. This causes narrowing of the arteries, which can clog up with natural blood debris, normally dispersed with a healthy blood flow into the lymph and out of your pee. For instance.

When it can’t flow naturally due to narrowing of the arteries, blood starts to ‘pool’, which can cause a stroke or heart attack if blood cannot reach the organs it is destined for. Like a stagnant pond.

So here’s my ‘easy to do in 1 minute a day’ tips to maximise blood flow.

  • try not to save up your ‘movement’ to an hours blast in Zumba at the end of the day. This has health benefits of course, but blood flow and your health will benefit immediately from any movement in just one minute at all times of the day preventing it ‘pooling’
  • fidget from side to side in the car when you’re stuck at traffic lights
  • during long commutes or a flight stand up every so often and get some blood pumping by just bending your knees a little, or lifting your knees one at a time or even making a tight fist and releasing.
  • get up and walk around as often as you can if you’re desk based
  • take a walk during your lunch break, or briefly after work before sitting in the car for an hour
  • remember to breath! just breathing deeply during a short walk contracts heaps of muscles linked to just breathing and walking (it’s worth mentioning here too that shallow breathing caused by stress affects blood flow too since the muscles contract less with shallow breathing)
  • take an ad break at home when the TV does and move around – do the washing up or something…
  • sex and/or regular ejaculation creates a positive impact on lymph flow too
  • switch your saturated fats out (these tend to be fats that are solid at room temperature and liquid when heated, so butter or meat fat for instance) and replace with healthier versions of fats (olive oil on Pittas instead of butter on toast for instance, leaner and/or less meat with plant based alternatives such as beans, mushrooms, lentils)

A recent report showed that blood flow decreased in those who had eaten a ‘popular fast food burger meal’ by 50% within 4 hours. 50%!!!! (Compared with those who ate a healthier meal of the same calories).

And that was just once, I can barely begin to imagine the blood flow if eating that way was repeated daily.

I don’t like that stat at all.

A healthy blood flow is something we can all do something about super easily.

So let’s get to it.