There are a lot of people, like myself, who are naturally blessed with great circulation. Some people, like my boyfriend for example, have really great circulation, and they can walk around in the wintertime indoors in shorts and a tshirt, while I’m struggling to stop shivering in a sweatshirt and sweat pants and socks.

When people generally stay pretty warm all the time, it usually means that either they have some extra weight on them, or that they have exceptional circulation, which means their blood circulates through their body very efficiently. It circulates to their arms, legs, and their extremities, so they rarely experience cold hands or feet, and they even stay pretty warm during periods of inactivity.

For me, part of the reason I work out in the first place is to improve my circulation. Half the time I wonder what my circulation would be like if I didn’t like exercising, if I was a couch potato who moved around minimally and sat like a bump on a log all the time.

out, the movement of it and the fact that cario workouts get your heart rate up, are excellent for people with bad circulation, and for people with good circulation, but they provide that additional benefit to those of us with poor circulation because it gets our blood pumping into areas of the body that need it more and are less prone to get the blood flow they need, such as the fingers, toes and feet, and for me, even my nose gets cold a lot.

Increasing circulation is one of the reasons I also use our new infrared sauna, because everytime I get in I know it’s making my heart pump more blood to all areas of my body, increasing my heart rate, and yes, warming my extremities from the comfy dry heat. Exercise and saunas alike are thought to decrease the likelihood of circulation related complications, like heart disease, heart attacks and possibly even strokes because they keep the blood moving and prevent disastrous clots from forming.

I just love working out because I feel so exhilerated afterwards, and my whole body feels warmed up and ready to go, as opposed to stiff and cold, like I feel on those days when I just don’t want to get off the couch and start moving. It’s a self perpetuating feeling on those days, and I know that once I get moving I’ll kick the coldness and the stiffness away.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 1:40 pm and is filed under Fitness Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.