Drinking moderately can soften blood vessels? Rumor! These 5 points are really helpful...

As we age

People will feel that their bodies are not as good as they used to be.

Health conditions are deteriorating

Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are particularly worrying

Especially this kind of invisible trouble

- Vascular sclerosis

God knows when he will come to your door

What exactly is vascular sclerosis?

Can drinking alcohol soften blood vessels?

Regarding these questions

Dr. Huaxi will answer this question

The blood vessels in the human body are like water pipes. Over time, their effectiveness will be greatly reduced. They will age, become hard and brittle, and will not be as elastic as when they are young. This trend is called vascular sclerosis.

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Vascular sclerosis can easily lead to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Just as water pipes with poor water quality are prone to scale growth, in the same way, if middle-aged and elderly people have high blood lipids and high blood sugar, aging blood vessels are also prone to produce something like scale, that is, atherosclerotic plaques.

Although this plaque is small, it can cause big problems. It may block blood vessels and form blood clots. If you pay a little attention to health information, you should know that stroke and myocardial infarction are related to blood clots.

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Therefore, vascular sclerosis poses a considerable health risk and is an important indicator for managing vascular health. It is no wonder that people will look for some folk remedies and strange methods to "soften blood vessels."

① Touch the instep: The arterial pulsation of the instep is very obvious, and you can feel its passion when you touch it normally. If you find that it is difficult to touch it no matter how you touch it, or it appears and disappears from time to time, you should be alert.

② Press the toes to see if they are still red. This can help you determine the filling of the peripheral blood. If they return to redness within 1-2 seconds, it means your blood vessels are relatively smooth. If they return to redness within 3-5 seconds, something is wrong.

These are all very preliminary judgments. The most scientific way is definitely to go to the hospital for a check-up and develop the awareness of regular physical examinations, especially for middle-aged and elderly people.

Also note that if you find yourself experiencing some physical symptoms, such as leg swelling, numbness in the hands and feet, or red or brown bruises on the skin of the hands and feet, it may be that blood clots have already appeared in the body! In this case, you must pay great attention and go to the hospital in time.

Of course... it's useless.

In fact, many medical studies have found that drinking is one of the influencing factors of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and may cause myocardial ischemia, arrhythmia, dilated cardiomyopathy and other diseases.

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Long-term drinking habits can also lead to atherosclerosis and increase the risk of heart failure.

If drinking can soften blood vessels as everyone says, then wouldn't that be a bit contradictory?

Some people may argue that drinking a lot of alcohol is harmful to the body, but drinking moderately occasionally is still good.

This view is also untenable.

Just in 2018, a study of 28 million people worldwide published in The Lancet found that even moderate drinking can have an impact on health, especially causing cardiovascular and liver damage.

Anyway, drinking alcohol has no benefits for your health except making you happy at the time, not to mention softening your blood vessels. The Lancet recommends a safe amount of alcohol consumption of even 0.

In addition, there are many folk remedies for softening blood vessels, such as drinking vinegar, eating fungus, drinking red wine, etc.

These methods are all useless!

Vascular sclerosis is an irreversible process. Once hardened, it is basically impossible to soften again. The only thing we can do is to do our homework in advance, slow down the rate of hardening, and reduce the risk of disease.

To prevent vascular sclerosis, you need to do it in your daily life:

1. Eat a light and healthy diet. Eat less saturated fatty acids and animal fats, such as lard and animal offal. Eat no more than 6g of salt per day. Eat more vegetables and drink less stewed soup.

2. Actively treat and control hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and hyperglycemia to avoid inducing cardiovascular diseases;

3. Quit smoking and limit alcohol consumption from now on. Reduce the risk of endothelial damage and blood hypercoagulation caused by smoking and atherosclerosis caused by drinking;

4. Exercise more and sit less.

5. Have regular physical examinations for early detection and early treatment.

If you have discovered that you have vascular sclerosis, instead of believing what you have heard, it is better to trust the doctor's professional judgment, actively seek treatment, take medication as prescribed by the doctor, and undergo surgery in a timely manner if necessary.

Statement: This article is a medical-related educational popular science article. It does not involve specific treatment methods or medical behaviors and cannot replace hospital visits.

Experts who reviewed this article

References

[1]]Self-diagnosis method for vascular blockage[J]. Family Medicine, 2022(06):2.

[2] Fan Shumin. Ultrasound imaging manifestations of acute and chronic thrombosis in lower extremity arteries. Chinese Journal of Postgraduate Medical Education, 2010, 33(26)10.3760/cma.j.issn.1673-4904.2010.26.030

[3] Zhang Jiehan, Zhuang Shaowei, Wang Yuhua, Ju Haining, Li Yansong, Xu Yinghui, Xia Jingwen. Analysis of arteriosclerosis indexes in young and middle-aged hypertensive patients. Chinese Journal of Physician, 2017, 19(12): 10.3760/cma.j.issn.1008-1372.2017.12.030

[4]Gabriele Riccardi, et al., (2021). Dietary recommendations for prevention of atherosclerosis. Cardiovascular Research, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvab173.

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Editor: Zhang Fuyao

Map: Eastern Zhou Dynasty