Arteries - how thick are yours?
How thick are your arteries? I doubt any of you have ever thought about it before. But by the end of this article, I hope to convince you to care.
In case you do not know, your arteries carry blood away from your heart and into your body. Roughly five litres of blood is continuously pumped into your body and then back into your heart through your veins.
The larger the size of your arteries, the faster or easier it is for blood to flow into your hands, legs, and muscles.
Think of it this way. Imagine you have a pipe, say one inch in diameter, carrying blood, versus one that is half an inch. Naturally, blood will flow more easily in the one-inch pipe.
The magical thing is that you can control your artery thickness. Look at pictures of people who weight-train regularly. You can see their arteries popping.
This is not some vanity feature. Their arteries got bigger in response to a higher need for blood in their muscles every time they weight-trained. So can yours!
When you exercise regularly, one of the enduring outcomes is a slower heart rate, both during and outside of training. In fact, a low heart rate during match day is a much-coveted goal.
A thicker artery assists in making that happen. If the blood that you need is flowing more easily due to a thicker artery, you don't need to strain your heart to deliver the oxygen.
Your heart can beat at, say, 80 beats per minute instead of the 140 beats per minute that you and I are likely to see. Not just that, your blood pressure will remain lower.
High performance at high efficiency levels.
So if you are convinced that a thicker artery is good for you and now want to check, let me tell you how.
Besides the obvious ones of looking at your arms, you can get an ultrasound, MRI, or CT scan. Pulse wave velocity is another non-invasive way of finding out.
The best way? Just exercise and get bigger arteries, and don't worry about how much!
Reach out to me on twitter @rbawri Instagram @riteshbawriofficial and YouTube at www.youtube.com/breatheagain
PS: Apologies in an earlier version, I said veins popping instead of arteries popping in your hands.
