Flexibility - your veins need it, too
Flexibility is a LOT of things coming together. Nerves, muscles, and veins. Over stressed, your nervous system is not going to let you bend over and touch your toes. Tight muscles are being overworked or sitting all the time, yep, you’re not going anywhere there either. But the killer, the actual could kill you factor, on this list are the veins.
You should exercise! Duh. How many times in life have you been told that? But has anyone ever told you that maybe the reason you can’t touch your toes may not be because your hammies are tight, but because your veins and arteries are been stiff? Work those hammies all you want, but if you feel like you’re not getting anywhere, it’s a deeper problem - literally.
Also known as arterial stiffness, the ability of your vascular system to bend and move staves off heart disease, high blood pressure, heart attacks, kidney health! and more. The stiffer your vascular system gets, the closer you get to a ticking time bomb of death by some cardiovascular disease.
Learning how to move - just not to exert yourself, burn off calories you shouldn’t have eaten, or to put on muscle - is critical for preventive health. Movement isn’t some super strict do this, then this, then that, and finally end with xyz crazy pose. It should be varied! Mix it up. Keep things moving and bendy.
Also, lower your salt intake! One of the easiest dietary ways to address vein and artery stiffness.
No idea where to start or what you can even do on a tour bus, green room, hallway or locker room? Find a youtube video. We can help tailor something to your specific life, too, but we just want you moving anyway you will. Your vascular system will thank you by keeping you alive longer.
Sources
I.S. Mackenzie, I.B. Wilkinson, J.R. Cockcroft, Assessment of arterial stiffness in clinical practice, QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, Volume 95, Issue 2, February 2002, Pages 67–74, https://doi.org/10.1093/qjmed/95.2.67
O'Rourke, Michael F.1; Mancia, Giuseppe2,3 Arterial stiffness, Journal of Hypertension: January 1999 - Volume 17 - Issue 1 - p 1-4
Safar, M. Arterial stiffness as a risk factor for clinical hypertension. Nat Rev Cardiol 15, 97–105 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrcardio.2017.155
Safar, M. E., Asmar, R., Benetos, A., Blacher, J., Boutouyrie, P., Lacolley, P., Laurent, S., London, G., Pannier, B., Protogerou, A., & Regnault, V. (2018). Interaction Between Hypertension and Arterial Stiffness. Hypertension, 72(4), 796–805. https://doi.org/10.1161/hypertensionaha.118.11212
Segers, P., Rietzschel, E. R., & Chirinos, J. A. (2020). How to Measure Arterial Stiffness in Humans. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, 40(5), 1034–1043. https://doi.org/10.1161/atvbaha.119.313132
Zieman, S. J., Melenovsky, V., & Kass, D. A. (2005). Mechanisms, Pathophysiology, and Therapy of Arterial Stiffness. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, 25(5), 932–943. https://doi.org/10.1161/01.atv.0000160548.78317.29