If you find yourself regularly experiencing any of the following, you may want to check on your circulatory health.
5 signs of poor blood circulation
Lack of energy
You get sufficient sleep time and you eat a wholesome diet, yet you’re still exhausted day in and day out. Where did all the energy go? Well, the root of the problem may not be your energy, but your iron levels. Iron is instrumental in oxygen transport. If there’s not enough oxygenated blood flowing through your body, your brain and muscles will starve, hence the fatigue.
Poor memory
As mentioned, when there’s not enough oxygen being delivered, your brain starves. The result? Inadequate concentration, poor memory, and even balance problems. With scarce resources available, your brain shuts down some of the functions to be able to carry on with the vital ones. Besides, fatigue due to poor circulation only aggravates your cognitive troubles. Dizzy spells and unexplained headaches are also quite common.
Dry skin
You’re keeping yourself sufficiently hydrated but your skin is still dry, flaky, and even painful. Your skin care regimen is up to par, but those blemishes keep appearing. The thing is, our skin is one of the first to manifest signs of poor circulation. You’re retaining water in some areas and not getting enough in other areas. You get skin discoloration due to lack of oxygen, and even ulcers that look like rashes or very dry patches on the body.
Loss of appetite
Have you been eating half your regular portions or replacing full meals with just snacks? Your circulatory system may be in trouble. A loss of appetite means that your brain is not receiving the message from the stomach informing the former that you’re hungry. While you may welcome your absent feeling of hunger as a weight loss method, a poor diet can lead to various nutrient deficiencies, aggravating your health conditions in the long run. So, take a holistic approach to weight loss if you’re looking to shed some pounds and treat loss of appetite as a warning sign.
Shortness of breath
Difficulty breathing can be indicative of various health conditions, and some of them quite serious, so it should never be ignored. If you can’t breathe freely, see your doctor right away. Poor circulation inevitably affects your cardiovascular functioning. If your heart doesn’t get sufficiently nourished, this spells trouble. The feeling of tightness around the heart and chest pain is angina, caused by blood flow reduction to the heart muscle. Angina may precede serious heart events such as a heart attack and it requires immediate medical attention.
You may have chalked off these symptoms to being tired, but it might very well be a circulatory problem under cover. Don’t take chances and check your health. The earlier you get diagnosed, the better you can treat your condition.
Related: Poor circulation treatment: How to improve blood circulation