When it comes to your body’s daily functioning, circulation plays an essential role in assisting keeping you alive. Your circulation affects all parts of your body including your heart, brain, lungs, stomach, and muscles. So, it should come as no surprise that exercise can play a role in circulation. Exercise and the circulatory system have a mutually benefitting relationship. According to Donald Dengel, PhD, director of the Laboratory of Integrative Human Physiology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, “exercise makes the circulatory system stronger, more flexible, and more expansive — all at the same time. A healthy circulatory system then returns the favor by boosting athletic performance.” Exercise has also been proven to prevent and also help to cure the arterial damage that comes from unhealthy eating and unhealthy lifestyles in general.


When it comes to the mutual relationship, here are six ways in which exercise and circulation go hand in hand.

  • Exercise promotes blood-vessel health
  • Exercise helps inoculate against chronic disease
  • Exercise reduces heart-disease risk
  • Exercise bolsters athletic performance
  • Exercise improves lymphatic function
  • Exercise makes the heart bigger and stronger

When it comes to your heart, exercise plays a vital role in keeping it happy and healthy. When you exercise, your heart rate increases. As your fitness levels begin to improve, your heart in turn becomes stronger, thus decreasing your resting heart rate. According to Live Strong, “As you exercise, the hormone adrenalin causes your blood vessels to expand to allow passage of a greater-than-normal volume of blood. This is called vasodilation, which is a short-term response to exercise and is one of the reasons your surface blood vessels may become more prominent during exercise.” Another important component with exercise and circulation comes from the effect exercise has on your red blood cell count. By continuously working out and improving your fitness regime, you increase the number of red cells in your body. As a result, your body can transport more oxygen to parts of your body.

 

 

Works Cited:
Dale, Patrick. Live Strong. “The Effects of Exercises on the Circulatory System.” http://www.livestrong.com/article/413190-the-effects-of-exercises-on-the-circulatory-system/
Bergeson, Laine. Experience Life. https://experiencelife.com/article/how-exercise-affects-circulation-and-vice-versa/.