Better circulation brings energy building nutrients and oxygen to your body’s cells. It also carries away toxins and other metabolic wastes. Here are 7 ways to improve circulation.
Exercise
Exercise is good for you; especially if it’s aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise strengthens your muscles, works your heart so that it pumps blood more efficiently and improves circulation. For best results, do aerobic exercise for at least 20 minutes from 3 to 5 times a week. There are many aerobic exercises, but fast walking is one of the best and most convenient. Start out doing a little extra walking every day for a week. Build on that success.
Massage therapy
When muscles are tight, it is difficult for blood cells to get to those tissues. A good massage will relax the muscles and move trapped blood toward the heart and allow new blood to flow into the previously cramped muscles. For best results, plan to see a massage therapist every week or two.
Hot bath / shower
The typical hot bath or shower will raise the temperature of the skin (circulation is increased) that lasts for a few minutes after the bath or shower. Although the improved circulation is only skin deep every little bit helps.
Hot tub / sauna / steam bath
These provide a source for deeper, more consistent and longer heat… and therefore more increased circulation. They can allow the heat to be driven deeper into the body, therefore causing more blood vessels to dilate.
Heating pad
By definition, the heating pad does not provide all-over heat to the body. It dilates blood vessels and raises skin heat directly below the heating pad.
Herbs
Several herbs are known to improve circulation throughout the body. To varying degrees, enough of these herbs will cause a person to flush and sweat. These include cayenne pepper (and several others of the pepper family), garlic, ginko biloba and hawthorn berry.
Light therapy
Use of light therapy to improve circulation has been cleared by the FDA. One interesting thing about light therapy is that it does not have to increase skin temperature at all to be effective. Light therapy is an ideal way to improve circulation for many patients including those with reduced mobility (that might not be able to perform aerobic exercise), and those with peripheral neuropathy where the patient may not know when something is too hot or that is too sensitive to touch (massage). Light therapy can be performed in the comfort of your home for approximately 20 minutes twice a week to improve circulation and maintain the beneficial effects.