Most any exercise is a great way to boost blood flow, throughout your body. It can elevate your heart rate strengthen the heart muscles and enhance the delivery of oxygen blood to your muscles and organs. But, what is the best exercise for blood circulation? Or is one type as good as the other?
As it turns out, some types of exercise is better for blood circulation than others. Keep reading to discover the best exercises to boost and maintain the healthiest blood flow.
Poor blood circulation can lead to a variety of health issues, including fatigue, muscle cramps, and even heart disease. Fortunately, there are many simple exercises you can do to boost your blood flow and improve your overall health.
Exercise and Blood Circulation
There’s no question that regular exercise is what promotes and improves blood circulation throughout your body. Not only that, but exercise helps to increase your heart rate, strengthen your heart, and pumps oxygen-rich blood through your body.
Exercise improves your heart’s ability to pump blood to your lungs and throughout your body. As a result, more blood flows to your muscles, and oxygen levels in your blood rise. Capillaries, your body’s tiny blood vessels, also widen. This allows them to deliver more oxygen to your body and carry away waste products.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Below are just a few of the benefits of exercise and you can see physical activity aids more than just your heart and blood flow.
Benefits of Regular Exercise
- Increases blood flow and circulation
- Lowers blood pressure
- Reduces the risk of heart disease
- Helps maintain a healthy weight
- Reduces stress and improves mental health
Best Exercise for Blood Circulation
While any form of exercise can help improve blood circulation, some types of exercise may be more effective than others.
- Aerobice Exercise: Aerobic exercises, such as running, cycling, or swimming, are excellent ways to get your heart pumping and increase the blood flow throughout your entire body.
- Resistance Training: Resistance training, such as weightlifting or resistance bands are also good. They help build muscle, which can improve circulation by increasing the body’s metabolic rate.
- Stretching and Yoga: Stretching and yoga are basically the same type of exercise. Both can help improve your circulation by increasing flexibility and reducing muscle tension.
I will explore the best exercises for blood circulation a little deeper and talk some about the benefits of each as we go along. So, whether you need to make improvements to your general health or exercise for a particular health condition-just start using any one of these to improve your blood flow and promote better health.
Aerobic Exercises
I think aerobic exercises are probably the best way to improve blood circulation. When you’re engaged in an aerobic exercise your entire body is involved. They increase your heart rate which demands that more blood is pumped throughout your body. Some examples of aerobic exercises include:
- Walking
- Running
- Swimming
- Cycling
- Elliptical
You should aim for about 30 minutes a day at a moderate intensity, three to five days a week. However, if your own fitness level doesn’t allow for 30 minutes, the amount of time you’re up to doing any of these aerobics will be good for your blood circulation.
Strength Training
Strength training is a little different than aerobic exercise. Strength training usually only works one set of muscles at the time, rather than your entire body. However, this type of exercise improves blood circulation by increasing the blood flow to your muscles while you workout. But, because strength training increases muscle mass, your body is forced to increase the flow at all times. Examples of strength training include, but not limited to:
- Push-ups
- Squats
- Chin-ups
Strength training should be done at least two days a week, with a focus on different muscle groups each day.
Yoga and Stretching
Yoga and stretching may not seem like they do much, but they definitely help to improve blood circulation. Of course they are known most of all for increasing flexibility and reducing stress, but they also get your blood flowing.
Here’s some simple yoga poses to boost your blood flow:
- Downward-facing dog
- Child’s pose
- Seated forward bend
Leg Lifts and Ankle Pumps
Here’s proof that you don’t really need to leave home to for the best exercise for blood circulation. Simple exercises like leg lifts and ankle pumps while seated in a chair will do the job.
They will stimulate blood flow in your legs and feet, which by the way, is really good if you spend a lot of time sitting, or standing still.
Just sit in a chair and slowly lift one leg up to a straight out posisition. Hold it there for as long as is comfortable, and lower it. Do the same with the other legs. The more often you do this, the longer you can hold your legs in front of your body.
While you’re seated in the chair with your feet flat on the floor, just raise your toes up towards your shins then lower them. Now raise your heels off the floor and lower them. This helps to pump blood back up from your legs and feet.
Brisk Walking
I consider walking to be the simplest and one of the best exercises for blood circulation. Brisk walking just means that you’re not meandering along picking flowers. Different people have different speeds that would be considered brisk, but not trying to do speed walking.
Just aim for a pace that you feel yourself having to breath a little harder than normal. This means your heart rate has increased which means it’s pumping more blood through your veins and arteries.
Brief Summary
Regular exercise is crucial for boosting blood circulation and overall health. It increases heart rate, strengthens heart muscles, and pumps oxygen-rich blood throughout the body.
I’ve only covered a few ways to exercise, but there’s plenty more. Most of all, anything you can do to get your body moving more will help with circulation. And any regular exercise will help to increase blood flow, reduce stress levels, blood pressure, heart disease, maintain a healthy weight, and much more.
When it comes to the best exercise for blood circulation, I am sure it’s the type you can do 3-5 times a week and enjoy doing it.